


What's meant to be

by rokeat



Category: Glee
Genre: Blam, M/M, Not Kurt Friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-04 00:01:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2892953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rokeat/pseuds/rokeat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>BASED ON S6 SPOILERS: Only three days before Blaine's wedding with Kurt, Sam thinks of the best gift he can give his best friend: the kiss he knows Blaine always wanted. But what will happen when feelings get in the way and things get out of hand and Sam is left with the possibility of losing the one he loves forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! This was supposed to be a one-shot but, as you know always happens to me, it kept getting longer and longer so it's going to be multichaptered. It will still be a short story, three or four chapters at the most, and they will come as soon as they're finished! So patience, my friends!
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

 “Oh my God, I’m so drunk” Sam said as he let his back bump the wall in the hallway as he waited for Blaine to unlock the door to their apartment.

“You’re not so drunk, you’re just getting old” Blaine answered with a cheeky grin, unsuccessfully looking for the key in the hundreds of pockets that his jacket seemed to have developed all of a sudden.

“Excuse me, I’ll let you know I’m still in a pretty good shape” Sam answered, pretending to be offended as he shamelessly inserted his hand in Blaine’s skinny jeans pocket where he had seen his roommate put the key at the beginning of the night and extracted the wanted trophy.

“Oh yeah?” Blaine tried to keep a normal conversation as he tried to act casual after the incursion of Sam’s hand in his very tight pocket. “Then what did I have to support half your weight here for a whole two blocks ‘cause you couldn’t even walk straight?”

“I was faking just so you would take care of me, ‘cause I love when you take care of me” Sam answered, his voice only slightly slurred with alcohol, as he finally unlocked the door and held it open for his friend.

“I always take care of you” Blaine answered, equally tipsy, as his hand brushed –only so lightly– Sam’s cheek as he passed him by on his way in.

“That’s right, you’re an amazing friend” Sam answered, with no trace of joking in his voice that time.

“Well, thanks” Blaine said, almost blushing at the appraisal.

“I mean it, B. You’re like the most awesome friend one could possibly have”

“Oh, I see now we’re getting into the sentimental phase, right?” Blaine joked, smiling fondly at his squiffy friend.

“Come here” Sam said and before Blaine could do anything to stop him, the blond threw his arms around the smaller boy and embraced him with all his forces.

Even if they had always been very physical and affectionate towards each other, and hugs were an everyday occurrence for them, Blaine was surprised at the depth and emotion that one embrace held. Maybe it had to do with the excess of alcohol; or maybe with the fact that they were just back from Blaine’s bachelor party, only three day before his wedding with Kurt. Blaine knew Sam was having a bit of trouble to come to terms with the fact Blaine was moving out. After all, they had been roommates for two years, one in New York and one back in Lima, when Blaine came back from his failed New York adventure. And they had been best friends even longer than that, so it was just normal that Sam felt as if he was losing an important part of his life, even if Blaine had swore up and down that nothing was going to change between them even if he moved back to New York to be with Kurt, and he very well intended to keep his word. What Sam probably didn’t know was that just the idea of moving out –and so far away from him– was as hard to accept for him and it was killing him inside. It was not that he wasn’t looking forward for his wedding with Kurt and to start a life next to the man he was supposed to love, or at least that was what he tried to tell himself. But to be in a different state than his best friend, the person who understood him and had his back like no one else in the world… it broke his heart.

The surprise of such an emotional embrace, though, didn’t stop him from enjoying that wonderful feeling he always got whenever Sam’s arms enveloped him, a feeling he couldn’t find anywhere else, as if he was the most special human being in the whole world and nothing or no one could ever hurt him as long as Sam was there to protect him. He sighed, contented, and snuggled even closer on Sam’s chest, until his friend’s words broke the moment and he felt as if a jar of cold water had fallen over him.

“You’re getting married” Sam said, and Blaine didn’t know if the shaking on his voice was due to the alcohol or something else.

“Yeah, I know” Blaine answered, stupidly, because the alcohol was clearly messing with his thinking abilities.

“But like for real”

“That’s the idea, yeah”

“Blaine, I…” Sam looked so serious and sad that it made Blaine’s heart physically ache.

“What is it, Sammy?” Blaine encouraged him to open his heart to him, as they had always done with each other.

“I need to ask you: are you really sure about what you’re going to do?” Sam asked in a rush, knowing he would never get the courage to say it again if he hesitated.

“What?” Blaine asked as he broke the embrace to look at his friend’s face, more surprised than angry. “Sam, of course I’m sure! Where is this coming from?”

“I really care about you, you know” Sam confessed, blushing even if his hand moved to tuck a stray curl behind Blaine’s ear.

“I know”

“I love you”

“I love you too” Blaine answered, not really sure why a lump was forming in his throat at the depth of Sam’s emotions.

“I don’t want you to make a terrible mistake” Sam confessed, his voice no more than a whisper.

“Sam, I appreciate your worries but… everything will be alright”

“You will not forget about me once you’re married, right?” Sam asked, and if Blaine didn’t know better, he would have thought Sam looked as if he was about to start crying on him.

“Was that what had you worried?” Blaine said, with a fond smile. “Of course not, Sam, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and nothing or no one is ever going to change that”

“Not even Kurt?” Why did Sam looked so scared all of a sudden?

“No one. You’re the most important person in my life, Sam” Blaine assured him, bringing his hands to Sam’s shoulders to make a point, before realizing what he had just said. “I mean, next to Kurt”

“Yeah, of course. I’m going to miss my roomie, though” Sam added, giving Blaine a little smile –that seemed a little forced– to put his mind at ease.

“Me too. Kurt and I… don’t share as many interests as you and I do. It’s going to be so weird not waking up to your excited shouts about a new comic number coming out every now and then” Blaine chuckled, finally moving away from Sam to take off his jacket.

“Aren’t you excited about living with Kurt?” Sam asked as he mimicked Blaine’s actions and took off his jacket, because Blaine looked almost sad to be moving, while he should be ecstatic, right?

“No, of course I am” Blaine answered, shaking his head as if trying to get rid of any negative thought crossing his mind. “It’s just… it’s going to be different”

“Well, I can always call you and shout about a new comic number coming out through the phone” Sam offered with a mischievous smile aiming to make Blaine laugh, which he did.

“That would be nice”

“You say that now because you’re drunk, but wait until the first time I really wake you up with my phone call” Sam said, playfully punching Blaine’s arm for good measure.

“I won’t care, but you’ll have to deal with Kurt’s wrath if you wake him up. He’s really not a morning person” Blaine answered, marveling at how different Sam and Kurt seemed to be. With Sam, weekends started very early in the morning, as if he didn’t want to waste any time of his days off doing something as silly as sleeping, so when lunch time came, they had already done a million things like going out running together, watching a movie they had watched thousands of times before so they could play the game of seeing who could recite the most dialogs –and Blaine would always lose, because he would always end up pissing himself laughing at Sam’s stupid impressions–, preparing the most complicated dishes for lunch just for the fun of it, Blaine reading magazine’s articles to Sam so he wouldn’t have to make such a big effort himself because of his dyslexia… They would have time for everything and more, and that was probably what Blaine was going to miss the most.

“I’ll fight with him for you, Blainedays, don’t worry about that” Sam was clearly joking, so why did it feel so nice to hear that Sam would protect him like that? ‘Cause he was joking, right?

“Yeah, you’ll be my knight in shining armor” Blaine sarcastically replied as he playfully punched Sam in the middle of his chest in return. It was not that hard a punch, but Sam’s balance was being compromised by his obvious drunkenness and he started following backwards. Blaine tried to stop him and grabbed his arms, but he was equally buzzed and his reflexes were not that good, so in the end Sam landed on his butt and brought Blaine down with him so they both ended up in a heap on the floor.

After a second of bewilderment and making sure they were not really hurt, both friends burst out laughing at the stupidity of the situation until they had to grab their bellies because they hurt so much. None of them seemed to be in too much of a hurry to get up, and it was Sam the first to move when he threw himself at Blaine for a fake fight.

“You’re going to pay for this, Anderson!” he yelled as he pinned Blaine to the floor, who was having real trouble to defend himself because of the still present giggling.

“No, please! Have mercy!” Blaine yelled between laughs as Sam began to mercilessly tickle him around his middle, knowing how tickly Blaine was and how he immediately lost all of his strength whenever he was put under that kind of torture. “Let go of me!”

“You wish” Sam answered as he raised one of his legs over Blaine to straddle him around his hips, more efficiently pinning him to the floor.

Blaine somehow recovered the strength in his arms and tried to grab Sam’s hands to get them far away from his tummy, but Sam guessed his intentions and was faster than him. Panting from all the effort, he managed to grab both of Blaine’s wrists and brought them over the shorter boy’s head, also pinning them to the floor while he tried not to grin as Blaine still was trying to stop his giggling.

“If you thought you were going to be able to stop me…” Sam bent down closer to his face to whisper menacingly at him.

“Well, you can’t tickle me anymore while you’re holding my hands anyway, so…” Blaine answered, his voice shaky at Sam’s proximity and at his own vulnerability at Sam’s hands, all laughter forgotten all of a sudden.

Sam chuckled fondly at his friend before he let go of his wrists and sat up, though he didn’t move an inch from his position straddling Blaine’s body, apparently far from being uncomfortable about it.

“Good point” he admitted, giving Blaine’s middle a last tickly brush of fingers for good measure. “You know what I just realized? I still haven’t made you a wedding present”

“You don’t have to” Blaine answered, although if he had been honest with himself he would have admitted he was having trouble keeping a conversation in the position they were in. He hadn’t even moved his hands from where they were lying at each side of his head. “Having you as my best friend and best man is gift enough”

“No, it’s not. As your best man I need to give you something really special” Sam said, cryptically.

“Like what?” Blaine asked, very curious and more than a little scared.

“I don’t know… Maybe something I know you’ve always wanted, or at least you did some time ago, but never really got” Sam explained, and didn’t he sound suggestive?

“And… what would that be?” Blaine asked, his voice sounding too hoarse even to his own ears.

Instead of giving Blaine an answer, Sam smiled and bent over again until their faces were very close to one another. Blaine could feel Sam’s breathing mixing with his own, causing for his heart to start beating more quickly, and just as Sam was about to bridge the gap between their lips, Blaine recovered the ability of moving and put a hand to Sam’s chest to stop his advances.

“Sam, what…?” Blaine tried to ask even if he tripped over his own words, his voice clearly more high-pitched than usual.

“This is my gift for you, Blaine” Sam explained, and it pissed Blaine off that he seemed so calm while his own heart seemed about to burst with excitement. “I’ve always owed you a kiss, haven’t I? And I want to give it to you before you get married”

Looking intently at Blaine’s eyes, as if searching for something in them that would tell him to stop, which he obviously didn’t find, he smiled reassuringly at him and closed the final distance between them until he could gently press his lips against Blaine’s.

It was hardly more than their lips touching, almost too innocently in spite of their position, but it was enough to send Blaine’s heart racing to the point he was sure Sam would be able to hear it –or feel it, given how their chests were pressed together in that moment–. It ended too quickly, though, and Sam raised his face only a few inches so he could look into Blaine’s eyes again. Expecting to find amusement, surprise, or even mild anger there after his impulsive actions, he was surprised and more than a little encouraged by the desire and genuine affection that were making Blaine’s eyes look even bigger and brighter than usual. So without a second thought, driven by an unstoppable desire to feel more of those exquisite and sweet lips he had dreamt about so often, Sam captured his lips again and, this time, innocence was the last thing on his mind as he deepened the kiss.

Sam ran his tongue along Blaine’s bottom lip, asking him for entrance, and Blaine only hesitated for a couple of seconds before allowing it. He was glad he was lying down, because he knew that if he had been standing up his knees would have gone weak at the feeling of Sam’s tongue inside his mouth. At the feeling of Sam’s breath on his skin. At the feeling of the ends of Sam’s long hair tickling his face.

One of Sam’s hands moved to cup the back of Blaine’s head, holding him in place almost possessively as he passionately devoured his mouth, their tongues fighting a battle for dominance that was getting more and more intense with each passing second. Driven by the heat of the moment, Blaine lifted his arms to wrap them around Sam’s torso so he could feel him even closer to him, and one of his hands buried underneath the hem of his t-shirt on its own accord, longing for some contact with Sam’s flushed skin.

Sam took that as a signal that his t-shirt was getting in the way, and he only broke the kiss for less than a second to sit up and get rid of the offending piece of clothing in one swift movement, only to fall against Blaine’s chest again and take his lips in his again as if there was no tomorrow.

Blaine brought his hands to lie flat on the skin of Sam’s back as they kissed and couldn’t stop them from travelling all along the expanse of it, marveled at the width of his torso, the manly definition of the muscles on his back, in contrast with the softness of his skin. Everything seemed too perfect to be true, everything was exactly as he had always imagined and more, and he was starting to get too overwhelmed to think about anything that weren’t Sam’s hot and sexy lips on his and Sam’s skin under his fingertips.

Sam, though, seemed to be getting a little jealous about the fact that he was being deprived of feeling Blaine’s skin too, and very gently and tenderly –though decidedly–, he grabbed Blaine’s arms and once again lifted them above his head. He once again let go of Blaine’s lips for a second and took a moment to smile warmly at him before grabbing the curly-haired boy’s sweater and rolling it up past his arms and head until he was freed from it.

“Gosh, you’re so beautiful” Sam whispered, looking at him for a second before he threw the sweater away without looking where it fell and returned to his task at Blaine’s exquisite mouth, both of them shivering with pleasure and desire as their naked chests collided at last and Sam’s hands slowly travelled all the way back down Blaine’s arms until his neck, to hold it lovingly between them.

Blaine wanted to answer him: he wanted to tell him he was the one who was beautiful, that he was the most gorgeous boy he had ever met, that he was even more beautiful inside if that was even possible, but he couldn’t find his voice, he couldn’t get his brain to work to form a coherent sentence. He brought a hand to Sam’s face and tenderly caressed his cheek, hoping his actions would make Sam understand what his words couldn’t.

Moved by a strong urge to melt their bodies together, Sam raised his knees from the floor and let himself fall completely on Blaine, sending a shiver of electricity through both their bodies as every inch of them was in contact with the other’s, only keeping himself partially balanced with a hand to the floor so he wouldn’t completely crush Blaine with his weight.

Wanting them to be more comfortable –and more in contact with each other–, Sam brought a hand to Blaine’s thighs and made him separate them so he could fit in between them. The contact of their lower bodies, even through layers of clothing, was a delicious agony, and Blaine couldn’t stop a groan escaping from his lips, which Sam took it as an encouragement that he was doing things right so he rolled his hips against Blaine’s.

“Sam” Blaine half murmured, half moaned against the other’s lips, clutching strongly at him with arms that were again around Sam’s shoulders, his fingers pressing so tightly in his back that he feared he might leave some bruises there.

“I know” Sam answered as he gently bit Blaine’s lower lip, too intoxicated with his sweet taste to just let go of him.

Sam’s hands wouldn’t stop wandering around the skin on Blaine’s sides, with no intention of tickling him this time, and his chest, and any part of his back he could reach, as if he wanted to memorize every inch of his skin. It almost felt like an sculptor working on his most prized piece of art, so careful and loving every touch was, and Blaine could almost feel tears coming to his eyes at how cared and loved and beautiful that made him feel. Of course every coherent thought left his mind when Sam rolled his hips again against his and he moaned desperately into the blond’s mouth.

Obviously pleased with himself at the reactions he was eliciting from his friend, judging by the mischievous smile decorating his lips when he broke the kiss, Sam finally was able to separate himself of Blaine’s lips, only to trace a path of kisses down his exposed neck, adding his tongue and gentle bites every now and then to make it more intense. He stopped on the curve of his neck and conscientiously sucked on it, Blaine’s groan in response giving him a sudden urge to mark him. When he was sure a passion bruise would soon appear under the brunet’s ear, he continued his way down his chest, making sure to taste every inch of Blaine’s golden skin with his tongue.

It had been a long time since Blaine had felt like that: so turned on that he felt as if every inch of skin that Sam touched was on fire and so loved at the same time. It was different than anything he had experienced before, and he never wanted it to end. It wasn’t like that with Kurt, that was for sure. Kurt always went straight to business and cared little about making Blaine feel special or beautiful, like Sam was doing at the moment. Like Blaine wished Sam would keep doing for the rest of their lives.

Wow, wait a second. What the hell was he doing? Kurt! That was it, Kurt was his fiancé, he was getting married to him in three days and he was… cheating on him again. He couldn’t believe he was doing that to him again, he was the worst person in the world, and this time Sam wouldn’t be able to convince him otherwise.

Just when Sam’s tongue rolled teasingly inside his belly button, and his fingers moved dangerously close to the waistband of his jeans, Blaine finally regained the use of his voice and his limbs and brought a hand to Sam’s shoulder to stop his advances.

“Sam, Stop” he begged, his voice no more than a whisper.

“Come on, B, don’t be afraid” Sam said, misunderstanding the other’s hesitation, as his expert fingers undid the button of Blaine’s skin-tight jeans and he placed another kiss on his hipbone that sent shivers all along his body in spite of himself.

“No, Sam! I said stop!” Blaine said, suddenly yelling as he sat up and unsuccessfully tried to escape from under Sam’s body, his mind in turmoil because of what had just happened.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked in confusion as he lifted his upper body to free Blaine from his weight.

“What’s wrong?” Blaine repeated sarcastically, jumping from the floor once he was free as if he had been lying on a spring. “This is wrong! Oh my God, what have I done?” he rhetorically asked, bringing his hands to his head as if he couldn’t believe himself.

“Blaine, calm down” Sam tried to appease him as he sat up on his knees. “It’s okay”

“No, it’s not okay, Sam” Blaine lamented, hiding his face behind his shaky hands. “Nothing is okay”

“I thought… you wanted it” Sam tried to justify himself, bewildered at the change of mood. Everything was being so deliciously perfect until that moment…

“You shouldn’t have done that” Blaine uncovered his face to suddenly reproach at his friend.

“Last time I checked, it was both of us doing it” Sam answered, slightly angry that Blaine would only blame him for… whatever the problem suddenly was. Yes, Sam had been the one starting it and taking control of most of it. But Blaine had been a willing participant, hadn’t he?

“You know about my feelings for you and… Were you playing with me?” Blaine asked, heartbroken at the thought that Sam might have only taken advantage of his feelings to have a good time.

“Your feelings for me?” Sam asked, astounded. What was Blaine talking about? Was he… was Blaine still in love with him after all that time?

Blaine’s face paled as he realized that in his blind anger and repentance, he had babbled out his biggest secret. And to the person in question, no less! His eyes filling with tears he couldn’t control, he sat on the sofa and buried his face in his hands again, turning himself into a ball and trying to become smaller and smaller until he disappeared.

“What have I done?” he lamented, his body shaking with sobs that broke Sam’s heart.

“Blaine, calm down, please, you’re going to be sick” Sam pleaded to him, scared at his reaction as he had never seen Blaine like that.

“I can’t believe I cheated again. This cannot be happening, I’m marrying Kurt in three days!” Blaine continued with his tirade, as if he was not even hearing Sam’s words.

“Maybe you should rethink that” Sam said before he could stop himself, and even if those words were enough to send Blaine in rage, Sam was glad that at least they got him to react.

“What the hell are you playing at? You don’t want me to marry Kurt so you just…” Blaine spat at him, but just as that his anger turned towards himself again. No matter what Sam intentions had been, it was him the one who had made the mistake of falling into that trap. “Oh God, I’ve screwed it up so badly, oh God, what have I done…”

“Blaine, please, calm down, let’s just…” Sam begged as he crawled to him and brought a hand to Blaine’s knee, trying to sooth him because he couldn’t stand seeing Blaine so broken.

“Stay away from me!” Blaine yelled as he moved away from his friend, verging on hysteria.

“Blaine, you’re scaring me, calm down” Sam pleaded, not trying to touch him this time so he wouldn’t push him away even further. “Look, let’s just sit down and talk about this, we…”

“No” Blaine refused more quietly, even if the tears wouldn’t stop. “I’ve screwed everything up again. How could I do this?”

“Ok, Blaine, stop” Sam begged again, his own eyes getting glassy at his friend’s obvious pain.

“You’ve messed me up so badly, Sam” Blaine whispered, and it would have hurt Sam less if that had been said in a tone full of reproach and hate and not just as a piece of information, as Blaine was doing.

“I… I didn’t want to hurt you” Sam apologized, his own heart breaking at how badly everything seemed to be ending.

“I can’t stay here” Blaine suddenly said as he grabbed his sweater from the floor and took his jacket and his car keys and moved to the door.

“Wait, Blaine, where are you going to go at this time of night?” Sam said, running after him and grabbing his arm to stop him. “You can’t drive, you’re drunk!”

“Stay away from me, please” Blaine begged as he disentangled himself from Sam’s grip and went out of the apartment without even looking back.

“Blaine, wait!” Sam desperately yelled from the doorway of their shared apartment, even though he knew Blaine was the most stubborn person ever and he was not going to change his mind.

With a sigh and a heavy heart, Sam closed the door a full minute after he had lost sight of his friend. He let his forehead fall against the door and he then punched it in frustration, trying not to scream because of the late hour. What the hell had happened?

He had kissed his best friend! Well, he had done a lot more than kiss him, if he was honest with himself. What had driven him to do something like that? He had only meant to give him an innocent peck on the lips, t more as a joke caused by the nostalgia of those easy and uncomplicated days of high school in which he knew Blaine had sported a nice crush on him. How had that gotten so out of hand?

Maybe it was the fact that they were just coming back from Blaine’s bachelor party, with all his friends, and they had had the greatest time ever; maybe it was the alcohol running through their veins; maybe he was just emotional thinking about how they were going to stop being roommates after two whole years living together; or maybe it was the fact Blaine was getting married. For real. With another man. Moving to another city. Another state. Away from him. Forever.

What a fool he was. Did he really think he was going to be able to just taste Blaine’s lips and stop it there, given how in love with his petite best friend he was? Maybe he hadn’t just expected Blaine to respond to it like that. Maybe he had expected Blaine to laugh at him, or to get angry. But he hadn’t expected him to be so… into it. To give himself to him like that. To confess he still had feelings for him. Oh God, what had he done?

To have Blaine in his arms like that, to see him coming undone and so vulnerable just for him, to taste his sweet skin knowing he was making him feel so much… It was almost more than Sam could process. He was devastated that he had hurt Blaine so badly, that he had pushed him away to God knew where and in which conditions but… he couldn’t bring himself to regret what had just happened. He had been longing for that for too a long time, and his heart beat faster just thinking about it. He could still feel the flavor of Blaine’s skin on his lips, he realized as he touched his own lips unbelievingly. And it was the sweetest flavor he had ever tasted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what will happen now? Will Sam be able to bring Blaine back? Will Blaine go along with his wedding? And what does Kurt have to say about this? Stay tunned!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was an intense chapter to write (and long!)! Please don't hate me!

Sam dropped the phone on his bed unceremoniously, irritated. It was like the hundredth time he had called Blaine that day, and still no answer. That had never happened before. Even in that small period in which they had been in different states, Blaine had always been there for Sam. He might be a complete disaster with his mobile, never knowing where it was or even if it had sound on, so sometimes he didn’t answer instantly. But he would always, always, return the call.

Not this time. It was already evening, almost a whole day had come and gone and Sam still didn’t know anything about his friend. Not even if he was okay. But come on, who was he trying to fool? He perfectly knew he would not be okay. He would be devastated. He probably hadn’t even slept nor eaten since he left the apartment at dawn. That hoping he hadn’t crashed his car against a lamppost or something.

He could call Kurt and ask him if Blaine was there with him. But if he was, that would elicit too many questions, like what had happened for Blaine not to want to pick up the damned phone or why Sam was worried about him. And he couldn’t bring himself to cause even more trouble for Blaine, after what had happened. No, that was not an option.

Getting kind of desperate, he decided to text him. If he didn’t want to talk to him directly, maybe just some written words... Sam didn’t care if he sounded like he was begging; he deserved that and much more, for all the pain he had caused Blaine, even if unwillingly. And he just needed to know he was okay.

 _I know you don’t want to talk to me, but at least let me know you’re alive and not dead in a ditch, I’m dying with worry here._ Sent. Sam prayed Blaine would take pity on him. After all, Blaine knew Sam always worried about him, that he had very developed protecting urges for him, and he usually felt guilty when Sam worried so yes, he would take pity on him for sure.

Just half a minute later his phone beeped and Sam’s fingers didn’t seem fast enough to open the new message on the inbox. _I’m alive_ , it said. No more than that, though to Sam it was like heaven, he thought, as he already felt like he could breathe easier.

He decided to try his luck and text him again. Maybe he would take pity on him again, who knew. _Can we talk about it? I’m so sorry_. Sent. Again, he held his breath, waiting for an answer that didn’t come this time.

As disappointed as he was that Blaine hadn’t answered his second message, he couldn’t help but smile. That was Blaine, stubborn Blaine: he wouldn’t talk to him, but he would text back to keep him from worrying. He was kind like that. He loved Sam like that, in spite of everything. That thought brought tears to Sam’s eyes again: what if he had lost him forever? What if he had pushed away the person he loved the most in the world because of a stupid impulsive action instead of being open about his feelings with him? After all, hadn’t Blaine said something about having feelings for him too? Gosh, how could he be so stupid to fuck it up so badly? Not only he had ruined any chance of having something with him, but apparently he was losing him also as a friend. And that was more than he could stand.

**********

Sam woke up to a demanding pounding on the door to his apartment the morning after. It took him a few seconds to understand what was happening as he shook his head as if to get rid of all traces of sleep. Dying with worry and regret, he hadn’t been able to fall asleep until the early hours, and judging by the nice headache he was sporting, he had clearly not gotten enough sleep. And that insufferable knocking wasn’t helping at all. Wait, the knocking! There was someone on the other side of the door! What if it was Blaine, he thought as he literally jumped from the bed and quickly put his discarded jeans from the night before and threw a clean t-shirt over himself before running towards the door.

As he ran down the corridor, though, his sleepy thoughts started clearing and realized it was highly improbable that it was Blaine the one knocking on the door so insistently. He had keys, after all, and even if he had lost them, he would never knock like that, Sam was sure. So that meant it was probably…

“Where the hell is he?” Kurt asked as soon as Sam opened the door, not waiting to be invited in as he walked past the blond as if he didn’t matter.

“Who?” Sam asked, feigning to be too asleep to understand as he tried to gain some time to think how to deal with Kurt in that moment when he didn’t know what the situation was himself.

“Sam, please, don’t play the fool with me. Where is he?” Kurt repeated as he walked to Blaine’s room to find it empty.

“He’s not here, Kurt” Sam answered, knowing there was no sense in feigning he didn’t know what was happening.

“Then where is he?”

“I… don’t know” he admitted in complete honesty. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday at d… yesterday morning” Sam corrected himself before it was too late, because he couldn’t tell Kurt that his boyfriend had left before dawn without it looking too suspicious, right? “I thought he may be with you”

“Sam, he called me crying desperately that he couldn’t marry me, only repeating one time after another that he was sorry. I don’t know what the hell happened and he won’t answer his phone, and I need to talk to him” Kurt answered, for once losing his self-confident and calm stance, and Sam felt bad for him for a second –until he remembered that he was the one supposed to be marrying Blaine in two days. The one in the position to take Blaine away from him.

“Well, I… I’m afraid I can’t help you there” Sam said, his eyes moving to the front door as if they were signaling Kurt that he should get going.

“What the hell do you have to do with this, Sam?” Kurt asked all of a sudden, and Sam prayed he wasn’t blushing at the discovery that Kurt might know he was involved in the problem.

“Me?” he asked, trying to sound innocent, but of course he wasn’t fooling the other boy.

“Yes, you” Kurt answered with a sarcastic tone. “He’s fled from the apartment he shares with you, you tell me you haven’t heard from him for a whole day, which is strange enough given how you two always seem to be glued to each other, and when I tell you he wants to cancel the wedding you’re not even surprised?”

“Kurt, I…” Sam started, even if he didn’t have the slightest idea of what to say.

“Did you finally grow a pair and made a move on him?” Kurt asked, his voice full of venom, and this time Sam didn’t even need to feign his astonishment.

“What?” Sam spat.

“Don’t act so surprised. Blaine might be oblivious to most of what happens around him, but I’m not so naïve” Kurt explained with a sarcastic smile. “You want him for yourself and now you’ve taken advantage of how simple-minded he can be to turn him against me”

“He is not simple-minded, you bastard, he’s just not as devious as you are” Sam immediately jumped at Kurt’s throat in Blaine’s defense, not realizing how much he was giving himself away with his fierce protection of the curly-haired boy.

“There’s no need for you to insult me, Sam” Kurt answered, irritatingly calm as if he was trying to piss Sam off. Was he seeing him as a rival now?

“Then speak of your fiancé with the respect he deserves” Sam ordered, not willing to allow any bad word coming from Kurt’s mouth towards his best friend.

“What kind of respect does he deserve after leaving me at the altar?”

“He must have his reasons” Sam answered as cryptically as he could, something that didn’t amuse the other boy.

“You’ve got something to do with this, Sam, and I want to know everything” Kurt demanded, even if he was sure Sam was going to remain loyal to his friend instead of being helpful.

“Maybe he finally realized how selfish you are, maybe he just got tired of always having to adjust to whatever you want in that moment. It’s that what really pisses you off? That this time it was him who got tired of you and not the other way around?”

“Or maybe you got in the way”

“Maybe” Sam answered as sassily as he could muster. God, he hated Kurt so much in that moment…

“What the hell did you do?” Kurt asked, really irritated that, for once, Sam was daring to confront him –he usually didn’t, even if it only was for Blaine’s sake.

“Nothing I regret, let me tell you that” Sam answered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kurt asked, giving Sam a murderer look that only managed to amuse him.

“I’m not going to tell you anything, Blaine will if he wants to” Sam refused to say, and for once it wasn’t just to piss Kurt off; he still didn’t know what Blaine wanted to do about Kurt or about what happened the day before, and he was not going to ruin any chances for him. Or at least, not more than he had already done.

“Look, Blaine is my fiancé while you’re just his roommate, stay out of my relationship with him” Kurt warned him in a kind of threatening way.

“Just his roommate?” Sam answered, laughing sarcastically at him. “God, you don’t know him at all. You’ve never cared to know him, have you? Do you even love him?”

“Of course I do, why would I marry him if I didn’t?”

“I don’t know, but you threw him out of your apartment twice when things started getting complicated, what do you want me to think?”

“Who are you to question my feelings for him?” Kurt asked, trying to sound deeply offended.

“I’m his best friend, and someone who cares very deeply about him” Sam didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Oh, I see” Kurt answered, grinning creepily. “Do you really care so much about him, or are you just playing with him?”

“What the hell do you know?” Sam asked in a fury at just the thought of him playing with Blaine’s feelings, and Kurt’s grin widened at seeing he had finally managed to break the other boy’s stance.

“Look, I can’t waste my time with you, I need to find Blaine, we’re supposed to be marrying the day after tomorrow and I need to know if that still stands before I make a fool of myself waiting for him at the altar” Kurt explained while already walking to the door.

“That’s what matters to you, really?” Sam asked in disbelief. Gosh, if what he had done was enough to put an end to that wedding madness, he would never regret doing it. “You know what? I’m really really glad he’s not going to marry you. He deserves so much better than you”

“Like you, you mean?” Kurt turned around for a second to smile sarcastically at the other boy.

“I’d never take him for granted” Sam answered, not daring to admit his feelings for the smaller boy, but not denying them either. “I’d never want him only so I didn’t have to be alone”

“Well, you’re never going to get the chance to prove that, are you? After all, alone is what you’re going to be once he moves back to New York with me”

“Get out of here, Kurt” Sam ordered, as Kurt’s words had hit him too close to home, as that was his greatest fear: that Blaine would leave and forget about him. Especially if Kurt had anything to say in it.

“This is my boyfriend’s apartment too” Kurt protested at being thrown out of the place, even if he was leaving already anyway.

“Yeah, but he’s not here right now so… get the hell out of here” Sam repeated, making a big effort not to bodily remove the other man from the place, even if it was only for Blaine.

“Pray you won’t have to regret whatever it is that you’ve done” Kurt said before finally leaving the place with the resounding noise of Sam slamming the door behind him.

Sam breathed deeply for a couple of minutes, just trying to calm himself down. What if Kurt was right and he would have to regret what he’d done? What if Blaine still chose to stay at Kurt’s side and Kurt didn’t let him keep being friends with Sam? Or what if Blaine himself never forgave Sam and didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore? What if he… just disappeared and they never knew about him again?

No, sorry, Sam was not going to accept any of those possibilities. Kurt may have been unable to find him yet, but Sam knew Blaine better. If he didn’t want to pick up the phone fine, he would find him personally and force him to talk to him. There had been too much between them through the years for Sam to accept it was going to end like that.

Who would Blaine turn to in his darkest times? Well, the answer was too obvious: in any other different situation, Blaine would turn to Sam. But if that wasn’t an option, and he positively knew he wasn’t with Kurt either, who would be the next option? Tina, maybe? They had remained good friends even in the distance, and hadn’t she been at his bachelor party the other day? Shit, that was right. Tina was already in Lima for the wedding, and staying at her parents, so he doubted Blaine was with her.

Artie, maybe? No, the same as with Tina. And Sam couldn’t think of any other friend who would be close enough for Blaine to turn to on a situation like that. Family, maybe? But his parents tended to overwhelm him, and they had been openly against the wedding with them being still so young, so he doubted Blaine would be able to deal with them in his state. Maybe Cooper would have been the answer, but he would either be in California –and he doubted Blaine would run away so far– or staying at their parents’ house if he was already in Ohio.

But wait: hadn’t Blaine mentioned that Cooper had recently bought a small apartment in Columbus? He said something about having a place for himself when he got to visit –apparently their parents were pretty overwhelming for him too– and as things were going well in Hollywood for him and he could afford it, he wouldn’t settle for anything else than the state capital if he had to be in the Midwest. So that made Cooper a good candidate for Blaine to hide with, didn’t it? Maybe he would be lucky and Cooper was already in Ohio, after all.

The problem is he had no idea where that apartment really was. And if Blaine was with him and had told him everything, he doubted he would pick up his phone either. But well, no one would be able to blame him for not trying, he thought as he dialed Cooper’s number and waited. And waited. And waited. But nothing. He tried again, and a couple more times again later, and still no luck. He was contemplating giving Blaine’s parents a call, in spite of all the questions that might elicit, when he received a text. From Cooper. Sam was expecting a bollocking of some kind, or a threat to stop calling and to kill him for hurting his little brother, but instead all he got was an address in Columbus and nothing else. Daring himself to be hopeful for the first time in two days, he quickly got a shower and got dressed, and finally he picked up his keys to drive into Columbus.

**********

“Hey” Cooper greeted him as he opened the door for him when he arrived to his apartment.

“Hi” Sam answered, feeling completely awkward and out of place under the watchful eye of Blaine’s big brother. “Mm… thanks for giving me your address”

“Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up the phone, but… Blaine was right at my side, so…” Cooper explained with an apologetic shrug of shoulders.

“It’s okay, Cooper, you did enough” Sam answered, gratefully. “So is he…?”

“He’s in my room, supposedly having a rest, although I pretty much doubt he was able to get his mind to stop functioning for a second” Cooper answered, signaling a door down the corridor. “He’s a mess, I really hope you can fix this”

“Did he tell you…?”

“He only said he couldn’t get married to Kurt. But he would have never come to me first if the problem hadn’t anything to do with you too” Cooper explained without no trace of anger on his voice, which surprised Sam. He knew Cooper had always liked him, but he was also very protective of his brother.

“You’re not… angry at me?” Sam tentatively asked.

“I wouldn’t have brought you here if I was, would I?” Cooper reasoned with him. “Blaine is going to kill me for this, after all. Look, I’m… I’m just glad he is having second thoughts about the wedding, I don’t think… Kurt is the right one for him, so if you had anything with that…” Cooper looked knowingly at him, almost grateful. “I just don’t want to see him like he is right now, I can’t stand it”

“And you don’t hate me for that?”

“No, Sam. I don’t know what happened. And you’re here now, aren’t you? Whatever you did, just… fix it. He needs you. You need each other”

“I’ll try” Sam promised as he sighed, trying to get the necessary courage to confront the situation, and he looked at the door Cooper had signaled.

“See if you can get him to eat something, he hasn’t had anything since he came here yesterday morning” Cooper said as he gently pushed Sam towards the room in question. “And please, whatever you do, don’t tell him it’s okay to marry Kurt!”

Sam couldn’t help but smile at Cooper’s usual nonsense, and he felt grateful for it at the same time. He knew it wasn’t a matter of not taking things seriously: quite the opposite, Sam knew he was dead worried about his little brother. But if his jokes could in any way lighten the mood or reduce the tension, he was totally in. And that’s why Sam had so much respect for his best friend’s brother.

“Blaine?” Sam asked tentatively as his knuckles knocked softly on the door.

“What are you doing here?” Blaine’s surprised voice came from the other side of the door.

“I came here for you, let me in”

“Go away, Sam, I don’t want to see you right now”

“Please, B, I need to talk to you” Sam pleaded. He was willing to beg on his knees if it was necessary if that meant getting Blaine back on his life.

“You’ve done enough” Blaine’s strained voice could barely be heard through the door, but it was enough to break Sam’s heart just a bit more.

“I know that, that’s why I came. I need to try and make it better, but I can’t do that if you don’t open the door” Sam tried again, knocking on the door again in desperation.

“I told you to leave me alone” Man, could that boy be stubborn!

“Fuck, Blaine, open the fucking door, it’s the least you can do!” Sam yelled as he gave one last blow to the door.

Sam held his breath for a moment as he heard footsteps on the other side of the door, and he sighed in relief when it finally opened and the face he had missed so much appeared in front of him.

“The least I can do?” Blaine asked, obviously irritated.

“Gotcha, you finally opened the door” Sam answered with a mischievous smile as he jokingly pointed at Blaine’s face.

Blaine gave him a disbelieving look but almost as quickly the smallest smile broke on his lips at his friend’s antics before he was able to stop it. Sam sighed, deeply relieved that, as angry as Blaine obviously was, he didn’t seem to hate him.

His relief was short-lived, though, and it disappeared as long as he took a closer look at his friend. There were huge bags under his eyes and his eyes were red and puffy, probably from crying and lack of sleep. He hadn’t even bothered to gel his hair or to shave –not that it made him look bad, quite the opposite, but Sam worried it was just because of how devastated he was–. He was wearing some sweat pants and a hoody that undoubtedly belonged to Cooper, given how big they looked on him and how he seemed to get lost into them, making him look smaller and more fragile than he really was.

“Shit, you’re so messed up” Sam commented as he closed the door, and Blaine turned away from him as if embarrassed or too self-conscious at his disastrous appearance all of a sudden, which broke Sam’s heart as they had always felt so comfortable around each other in whichever the circumstances. “I didn’t mean…”

“I know what you meant” Blaine reassured him as he heavily sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I hate it that I was the one to cause this” Sam confessed as he sat next to his friend, though keeping a prudent distance between them. “Cooper said you haven’t eaten at all since you arrived”

“How did you know where to find me?” Blaine asked, obviously trying to change topics.

“Well, I knew you weren’t going to go to your parents in a situation like this, ‘cause they would make you crazy with questions” Sam explained, glad at the light topic to break the ice so he could get rid of all the tension accumulated on his body for the last day and a half. “My first thought was Tina, but since she’s already here for the wedding, and she’s staying with her parents, she was not an option either. So I remembered you told me Cooper had bought this apartment in Columbus, and I thought that maybe he also had arrived already so… I called him and he gave me the address”

“I knew I couldn’t trust him” Blaine answered with a fond shake of his head.

“He was just worried about you, and he thought I might be able to help”

“What the hell did he know, right?” Blaine added with a humorless laugh that felt like a direct punch to Sam’s guts, and an uncomfortable silence fell upon them, oppressing both their chests with discomfort and unease.

“Did you drive all the way here from Lima in… the condition you were in?” Sam asked, trying to delay the needed confrontation as much as he could.

“I’m not an idiot, Sam, I was too drunk and upset to drive. I called Cooper and I waited in my car until he picked me up”

“I was so worried” Sam confessed, his voice shaking with emotion.

“I know” Blaine admitted, and Sam was glad that at least Blaine still knew how much he cared about him.

Silence fell upon them again. It almost seemed if they had lost their connection, that instant chemistry that had always pulled them together in every situation. Now it looked like the only thing they shared was silence. And it was killing them.

“Kurt would never think to look for me here” Blaine suddenly spoke, and it took Sam completely by surprise that he would be comparing him to Kurt in that way –and taking his side.

“Kurt doesn’t know you as I do” Sam answered, because it was as simple as that, and both of them knew it was the truth.

“I’m not sure I can do this right now, Sam” Blaine confessed, shaking his head sadly.

“We’ve always been able to talk about everything, B” Sam answered, tentatively bringing his hand to Blaine’s knee to rub it comfortingly. “Let’s not change that now”

“A lot of things have changed now, Sam”

The sadness was so palpable in Blaine’s eyes that Sam had to look away for a second not to break down in front of him, while Blaine nervously tugged at his hoodie, waiting for Sam to say something. That action left his neck more exposed, and when Sam’s gaze returned to his friend, his eyes were drawn to the dark mark he had left on his skin in the heat of the moment only the day before, even if he felt like a lifetime ago. A shiver run through his body as he lifted his hand to Blaine’s neck to gently trace the outline of the bruise with his finger, vividly remembering how it had felt to leave it there, to have his lips taste and suck on that marvelous skin. And judging by the sigh that escaped Blaine’s lips before he could stop it, the memory was just as fresh for him.

Sam could see Blaine’s eyes were full of longing and when his hand moved to grab Sam’s, the blond almost couldn’t breathe, thinking Blaine was going to forgive him. But then he realized Blaine, although gentle, was just grabbing his hand to take it away from his neck, and all his hopes broke down just like that.

“Blaine, I…” Sam tried to explain, but Blaine wouldn’t let him.

“Don’t” Blaine pleaded in a whisper, and Sam wondered if he was just terrified that if Sam touched him like that again he would just lose it and he wouldn’t be able to stop it that time.

“Are you alright?” Sam answered, honestly, because the main reason for him to be there was to make sure Blaine was okay and to try and stop him from disappearing from his life.

The only answer he received was a shrug of Blaine’s shoulders. Sam longed to touch him, to hold him, as they had always done, but he doubted his attempts of comfort were going to be well-received, so he didn’t dare to move.

“I don’t think you are” Sam said, and he was surprised that Blaine didn’t even try to deny it. “I’m so sorry, Blaine. The last thing on my mind was to hurt you, you have to believe me”

“Yet you did” Blaine answered and Sam flinched, not used to being treated any less than lovingly by his best friend.

“Blaine, I…” he didn’t know what to say to justify himself, but Blaine didn’t even let him try.

“And I let you”

Sam could easily see Blaine was mostly angry at himself, and not at Sam as he had believed until then, but he guessed it was easier to pay his frustrations with him. Well, Sam was more than willing to take that and so much more from him, after all it really was his fault the mess they were in and… in the end he only wanted for Blaine to be happy.

“So you… cancelled the wedding?” Sam asked.

“How do you know?” Blaine turned to him in surprise.

“Kurt came to the apartment this morning looking for you”

“And did you…” Blaine asked, almost afraid, and he didn’t even need to finish his sentence for Sam to understand what he was fearing.

“No, of course not, Blaine” Sam rushed to put his mind at rest. “I didn’t tell him anything”

“Why?” Blaine asked in surprise. If Sam didn’t want him to marry Kurt, it would have been so easy for him to tell him about their… affair.

“I told you, Blaine, the last thing I want is to hurt you. It’s up to you if you want to tell him. I’m not going to make that decision for you. I know I’ve done more than enough”

“So you’re sorry it happened” Blaine answered, his voice breaking and his insides churning with desolation at what he thought was confirmation that Sam had only been playing with him.

“Of course I’m sorry, Blaine!” Sam answered, misunderstanding Blaine’s sudden breakdown. “I had no right to do that”

Even if he didn’t want to cry in front of Sam, his pride telling him not to let the man who had hurt him so much see his pain, he couldn’t stop his eyes from filling with unwelcome tears and a sob make his body shake.

“Blaine, what…?” Sam asked, his heart breaking at Blaine’s sorrow, as his hand reached for Blaine’s back, though he stopped himself before he touched the other boy for fear of being rejected.

“So you… only kissed me because you were drunk” Blaine said, admitting that way his biggest fear.

“Yes, that’s true” Sam confirmed, only for more tears to fall down Blaine’s cheeks. “Otherwise I would have never gathered the courage to do it”

“What?” Blaine asked, his enormous eyes, filled with tears, turning to his friend in disbelief.

“Blaine, the truth is… I’ve wanted to do that for a long time” Sam confessed, not able to hide his feelings any longer.

“But… you can’t” Blaine responded, his face a mask of pure incredulity.

“I can’t what?” Sam asked, confused.

“Feel like that for me”

“Well, I’m telling you, I can”

“You’re… not supposed to” Blaine whispered, his eyes searching Sam’s face as if he was seeing him for the first time, and Sam understood he was indeed seeing him with a whole new light.

“It took me a long time, years even, to realize that what I felt for you was way more than platonic” Sam explained, daring to pick Blaine’s hand in his and smiling in relief when Blaine didn’t reject him. “But we were so close and you’ve always been such an exceptional friend that I thought it was normal to feel so deeply for you. But when Kurt came from New York to win you back and you guys got back together and started planning the wedding, I don’t know… I was so jealous! I realized I wanted to be in Kurt’s place, I didn’t want to be your best man, I wanted to be the one to hold your hand and kiss you. But I couldn’t tell you then, could I? Not when you were finally piecing your life together again the way I thought you really wanted. I know I had missed my chance, so I just stayed aside, hoping you would finally be happy even if I couldn’t be the one to make you”

“And yet you had to go and ruin it” Blaine said, but it was more of a question than a real reproach, and his hand didn’t move from Sam’s grip even as the latter used his thumb to gently caress his knuckles.

“I swear to you I meant it only as a joke at first, some stupid nostalgic move about the time you had a crush on me back in high school. Maybe it was just my subconscious trying a last desperate attempt before you got married, I don’t know. What I know is that it meant something” Sam told him, looking intently at Blaine’s eyes to show him how honest he was. “A lot. And not just for me, am I right?”

“Sam, I…” Blaine tried to speak, but he couldn’t find the right words so he just shook his head and closed his eyes in response.

“Look at me” Sam pleaded, using his free hand to lift Blaine’s face with a gentle finger under his chin. “Look at me and tell me it didn’t mean anything to you”

Blaine opened his eyes at Sam’s insistence and looked at him with equal intensity. His eyes looked more golden than ever, but from so close Sam could also see sparks of green in them that made them even more special. Maybe they were angry red from crying, maybe there were deep bags under them, maybe they were filled with confusion and pain but… Even like that, they still were gorgeous, and to Sam Blaine still was the most beautiful being he had ever seen.

“Stop it!” Blaine’s desperate voice brought him out of his reverie, and he tried not to be too hurt when Blaine let go of his hand and moved his face away from Sam’s reach, shaking his head as if he was trying to escape some kind of enchantment. “You’re messing with me again!”

“I’m sorry, Blaine” Sam honestly apologized, completely at lost at what to do to help his friend. “I don’t know how to make this easier for you”

“Shit, Sam, why did you have to wait until then?” Blaine reproached him, getting up from the bed to pace nervously around the room. “Until three days before my wedding?”

“Because I’m such a coward” Sam answered with a sigh, his voice sounding much calmer than how he was really feeling inside.

“If I’d known before…” Blaine said, but stopped himself before he got any further.

“What?” Sam encouraged him to continue.

“What?” Blaine repeated, trying to gain some time to think.

“Finish that sentence, please. If you had known before…”

“I don’t know what I was going to say”

“Yes, you do, Blaine” Sam said, getting on his feet himself to stand in front of his friend, even if he kept his distance so Blaine wouldn’t feel as if he was cornering him. “What would you have done if you had known before?”

“Nothing. I love Kurt” Blaine answering, hoping it didn’t sound as false to Sam as it had done to him.

“Yesterday you said you had feelings for me” Sam insisted.

“I meant… in the past”

“Just in the past?

“Why are you doing this to me?” Blaine asked in a whisper, as if suddenly he had lost all the strength necessary to fight. “I finally had what I wanted, you know? Someone who loved me, who was willing to marry me”

“Who was willing?” Sam repeated, more than slightly horrified: in what moment had Blaine started believing that someone who relented to marry him was the highest he could aim? How small had Kurt made him feel all through the years? “Blaine, that is not the right reason to marry someone! Don’t underrate yourself like that, you should marry someone that really loves you, not someone who settles up with you”

“Well, you were never going to love me back, were you?” Blaine asked sarcastically, and judging by the regret that immediately appeared in his face, it was clear to Sam he hadn’t been able to hold his tongue.

“Is that why you were marrying Kurt?” Sam asked incisively.

“Of course not! I love him! And he loves me!” Blaine responded, trying to move away from Sam when the latter grabbed his arms to gently shake him into reality.

“Does he? Because he doesn’t seem to have much a problem pushing you away from his side every time things get a little complicated” Sam reminded him a little too bitterly. He didn’t want to hurt Blaine, but he needed to make a point so Blaine wouldn’t make the biggest mistake of his life.

“Why do you find it so hard to believe that someone could love me?” Blaine asked, completely misunderstanding Sam’s intentions behind his words.

“I don’t! _I_ love you, for God’s sake!” Sam yelled at his face, this time being him the one unable to stop himself.

“You… do?” Blaine asked in utter confusion: it was one thin to want to kiss him, or to have more than friendly feelings for him. But love…

“Yes, I’m in love with you” Sam answered, more calmly this time, letting go of one of Blaine’s arms to gently cup his cheek. “With all my heart. I guess there is no point in denying it any longer, is it?”

Blaine just shook his head in denial. That could not be happening. Not now, not after years of unrequited feelings, not when he was about to marry another man.

“And you love me” Sam said, not even sounding full of himself or proud about it; it was just a statement.

“Sam, don’t” Blaine pleaded.

“You can’t even bring yourself to deny it” Sam answered as he bent his face down and captured those sweet lips he seemed to be getting addicted to.

Although he didn’t try to move away, Blaine stood petrified, unmoving, willing himself not to respond to that kiss even if it was what he desired the most. But Sam knew him like the back of his hand, and he could feel the conflict in Blaine’s head. He needed to make a point, he needed for Blaine to react, so he tenderly cupped the back of his neck and let his fingers entwine with Blaine’s soft curls as his other hand curled around his waist to bring them closer together. There was no trace of the passion or the urge from the day before, only tenderness and care, because the only thing Sam wanted to express was all the love he professed for the smaller guy.

Blaine couldn’t resist it any longer and he let himself be engulfed in Sam’s arms and warmth. He started to respond to the kiss and he soon got lost in the taste of Sam’s lips, that overwhelming feeling he had never experienced until the day before.

Sam had to fight the urge to smile when one of Blaine’s hands hesitantly held onto his biceps, as Blaine started to melt between his arms and let himself fall against Sam’s chest. Having him like that… seemed like a dream come true, but when Sam reached with his hand to caress Blaine’s cheek, he was appalled to find it moist with tears. Sam broke the kiss for a second to look at him, to ask him what was wrong, but that was enough to make Blaine react and realize he had fallen again in the trap.

“No, Sam!” Blaine yelled all of a sudden, disentangling himself from Sam’s embrace and pushing him away with a hand to his chest.

“Blaine” was the only thing Sam could say in the coldness of Blaine’s absence between his arms, where he had belonged so perfectly just a second ago.

“You lost your chance!” Blaine reproached him, furiously trying to wipe away the tears only for more to fall down his cheeks uninvited. “You had all that time when I was alone and you knew how I felt, and you didn’t move a finger to be with me! And now you expect me to just leave everything behind, to leave the man I‘m supposed to marry, just because you say you suddenly realized you are in love with me?”

“I know you’re right, and I’ll never forgive myself for being so stupid” Sam admitted, because he wasn’t going to lie either to Blaine or himself. “I was just hoping you would”

“It’s not that simple” Blaine lamented, as soft sobs shook his body.

“Nothing ever is” Sam said as he reached to embrace Blaine, to make it all better like he had been able to do, but he stopped himself; he doubted he would ever be a source of comfort for Blaine again.

“Kurt’s always been at my side, he has never been afraid to love me, I can’t just leave him like that” Blaine explained, and Sam thought he sounded so desperate for him to understand…

“So what, you’re going to be unhappy for the rest of your life just because it was the right thing to do?” Sam asked, not even thinking about how he wanted to be with Blaine in that moment, but in stopping him for making the biggest mistake of his life. “Because believe me, Kurt is not going to make you happy”

“What the hell do you know?” Blaine responded angrily, and Sam could almost feel he was begging for him to convince him he was making a mistake.

“I just know, and deep down you know too” Sam answered, trying to make Blaine think twice before making any decision. “And even if you don’t want to give me a chance, please, think twice about the wedding! You deserve someone who gives you all of himself, that wants to spend every minute of every day with you, that can shake your whole world with just one kiss and whose whole purpose in life is to try and make you happy” As I would, Sam thought to himself, but he knew no good would come of telling him that in that moment.

“This is the real world, Sam, not a fairytale” Blaine answered, and there was no trace in his words of the usually optimistic and naïve Blaine that Sam loved so much, and that hurt him more than anything Blaine could have said.

“I know. But I swear I’d dedicate every day of my life to give you the happy ending you deserve if you’d let me” Sam promised him, and Blaine could see he was honest, even if he was too late.

“It doesn’t work like that” Blaine answered angrily, almost bitterly. “You can’t just throw all that in my face and expect me to be happy about it. It’s too late”

“It’s never too late to go for what you really want, Blaine” Sam pleaded for his friend to reconsider.

“I can’t do this now, Sam, I was supposed to marry in two days!” he explained with a humorless laugh as he turned around to give his back to the blond. “I don’t know what I want anymore, and your presence here is not helping”

“Don’t push me away, Blaine, please. I just… want you to be happy”

“Well, you didn’t make a very good job of it”

“Can’t we at least keep being friends?” Sam begged, his own voice breaking as his eyes stung with unshed tears at the possibility of losing Blaine. “We can’t just… end here. I need you, B”

“I don’t know, Sam” Blaine said in an almost inaudible voice, though Sam could very well hear the tears in his voice even if he couldn’t’ see his face. “I’m not saying it’s your fault, because it was me the one who cheated and the one who should have put an end to it before it even started, but right now… You being here is hurting me”

“Then I’ll go” Sam answered, his heart breaking at the thought that his mere presence could put Blaine in pain. “But let me tell you something first: if you were marrying him just because you thought I was never going to love you back… Well, now you can’t use that excuse anymore”

Hoping against hope that Blaine would try to stop him, he turned away and started walking towards the door. He opened it and, before getting out at his friend’s silence, he turned around to look at Blaine one last time. He could see his shoulders starting to shake, caused by soundless sobs. More tears sprang to Sam’s eyes too as he closed the door after him, reality hitting him with force when he realized he had really screwed it up this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, so... Happy new year, everyone! o_o


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, so here's the resolution. As some of you may know, I'm not happy at all with how this finally turned. I thought it was going to be a good story, I was pretty proud of the first chapter, but well... These things happen, I guess. I wrote and rewrote this chapter three times, and still I'm not happy with it. But well, I was not going to leave the story unfinished, so here it is. I hope you can enjoy it to some extent! And thank you all for your support!

Sam’s back was starting to hurt with all the moving things around to put them into boxes. He would have never thought he had so many things –at least he knew he didn’t have so many when he first moved in with Blaine–. But he guessed that sometime during that wonderful year together, he had stop caring about collecting too much stuff because it felt as if they were going to be there forever. As if they were so happy and comfortable together that they would never take separate ways. How wrong had he been, hadn’t he?

He wasn’t even taking the time to label each box, so it probably would be a nightmare to unpack once he was in Kentucky. But he couldn’t bring himself to care in that moment. He only knew he had to get out of there, and he needed to do it as soon as possible.

Two days had come and gone since his trip to Columbus and he hadn’t heard from Blaine ever since. And he was supposed to marry Kurt that afternoon, if he decided to go through with it. God, what if he did? In any case, Sam didn’t want to be there to see it. Cooper could take his place as Blaine’s best man, it didn’t have to be such a problem. And by then he would already be halfway to Kentucky.

He was packing in a good time, he thought, even if he had to stop every now and then to furiously remove some tears that suddenly appeared in his cheeks, uninvited. Just the thought of how he had lost Blaine because of his own stupidity… How he had hurt him to the point he didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore…

And on top of everything, he felt bad and like a coward for leaving like that, without telling Blaine face to face, but he couldn’t bring himself to hurt him even further… But to stay there without Blaine… There was nothing tying him up to Lima anymore; it was as simple as that. Absolutely nothing. At least in Kentucky he had his family. And he didn’t have to live in an empty apartment that once had been filled with Blaine’s laughter and music and warmth. Even if Blaine forgave him, which he doubted, he would probably be heading back to New York sooner or later. His place was there, Sam knew that much. Blaine had been born to do something big, and Lima was not the right place for him. So, one way or another, Sam was losing him. And he didn’t want to be there to see it.

He was so abstracted into his own misery that he failed to hear the door of the apartment opening and closing behind him. It wasn’t until he turned around to pick something up that he noticed a familiar figure standing there.

“Blaine!” Sam exclaimed in utter surprise when he turned around to find his best friend standing awkwardly next to the door.

“Hey” Blaine said with half a smile, trying not to show how uncomfortable he felt at being in the same room than Sam after two whole days of zero communication between them –something that had never happened before.

“Hey” Sam answered, just as clumsily, as he stopped all his actions to give his friend his whole attention.

“I… was going to knock, but I thought it felt weird” Blaine explained, shyly smiling and pointing at the door behind him just to have something to do with his hands.

“Of course. Come on in, make yourself at home” Sam joked, trying to break the slight tension between them.

As Sam started walking towards his friend, he took a minute to get a closer look at him, trying to asset how he was. Sam could see Blaine was still pretty far away from his usual self: pale skin, ungelled hair, noticeable stubble, borrowed clothing that looked way too big on him and very far away from his usual style, dark bags under his eyes… But he didn’t look as lost or devastated as he did the last time Sam saw him. He still looked nervous and obviously tired, but… there was no sign of the inner struggle and sorrow from the other day. In fact… he looked almost liberated. And more beautiful than ever to Sam’s eyes that had missed seeing him so much.

“Can I…?” Sam tentatively asked, motioning with his open arms how much he had missed having his smaller friend between them.

“Please” Blaine answered with the smallest smile, meeting Sam halfway.

Sam reciprocated the smile, a relieved warmth spreading all along his chest, and he carefully put his arms around his friend to embrace him as if he hadn’t seen him in a year. When he felt Blaine putting his own arms around him willingly, Sam strengthened his grip and held the smaller boy to his chest, one of his hands moving to cup the back of his head, his fingers getting lost in the softness of his curly hair. Sam inhaled deeply, wanting to fill his senses with Blaine’s unique scent, and he felt as if a part of him had been missing for two days and now, finally, he was full again.

He tried not to get to hopeful when he noticed Blaine seemed to be clinging to him too much too, not in any hurry of moving out of the circle of love and protection his arms offered. But Blaine had also had a couple of rough days –even more than Sam– and he probably only needed the comfort Sam’s physical strength could offer. As his best friend.

“I’ve missed you” Sam whispered in Blaine’s ear just before letting go of him, and he was glad when he looked at Blaine’s face and it was decorated with a wide smile.

“Me too” he answered honestly, nodding at him. But it was then when Blaine noticed the boxes and the clothes scattered all around the living room. “Sam, what are you doing?”

“Mmm… I was… packing my stuff” Sam confessed, blushing with embarrassment because he hadn’t trusted Blaine to come back and he had clearly been wrong in his assumptions.

“Where are you going?” Blaine asked, and Sam could see so much fear in his eyes that he wished he could just hold him in his arms forever.

“Kentucky” he admitted, looking anywhere but at Blaine’s eyes to not see the disappointment in them.

“Without even saying goodbye?” Blaine gently reproached him, as if afraid that saying the wrong words would send Sam away.

“I… didn’t think you’d be back. I… couldn’t stay here without you”

“And… now?”

“I’ll stay if you stay” Sam offered with a small smile.

“If you thought you were going to get rid of me so easily, maybe you don’t know me as much as you think” Blaine answered, obviously relieved that Sam would not be going anywhere now that he was back, and picked up Sam’s hand to hold it in his.

“But… I hurt you so much” Sam lamented, daring to entwine their fingers together, glad when Blaine let him.

“I think it’s safe to say we hurt each other” Blaine answered. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like I was blaming you for everything”

“Still, I’m… I’m so sorry”

“You already said that. And you shouldn’t be”

“Shouldn’t I?” Sam asked in surprise.

“No. You opened my eyes” Blaine answered, sounding almost grateful.

“So… you’re not going through with the wedding” Sam said, not really asking as much as just affirming.

“No” Blaine answered while lowering his head to look at the floor, showing that way how much of an issue the damned wedding still was. “I’m… going to the Hummels right away. Talking to Kurt face to face is the least I can do, I guess. I… just needed to see you first”

Sam couldn’t help but to smile given how his heart seemed to be about to explode. True, he still didn’t know how deeply Blaine felt for him or if he wanted for them to be together, but he had returned, it felt as if they were as close as they always were and he was putting his welfare above Kurt’s. That was still a lot to process, and he held Blaine’s hand in both of his as he tried not to be too overwhelmed.

“Do you… want me to go with you?” he immediately offered, because his heart ached at the idea of Blaine having to face such a difficult conversation on his own. “After all, all of this is my fault…”

“Thank you, Sam, you’re the most amazing human ever but… I think it’s up to me” Blaine answered, smiling fondly and gratefully at him as his free hand moved to Sam’s face to grace its knuckles against the soft skin of Sam’s cheek. “I’m breaking up with him. I think it’s bad enough, we don’t need to make him feel as if we’re ganging up on him”

“So apart from cancelling the wedding… you’re breaking up with him?” Sam asked, not daring to hope about what the implications of that could be.

“I don’t think he’d want to still be with me anyway but… you were right: I don’t love him that way. So what’s the point in being together?”

“I was right?” Sam asked, totally surprised.

“You’re always right, Sammy” Blaine asked with an affectionate chuckle.

“So… we’re alright?” Sam felt the need to ask, even if Blaine had been nothing but close and sweet since he arrived, just to be sure.

“Yeah, of course, Sam” Blaine answered, squeezing Sam’s fingers, which were still entwined with his own. “I’m so sorry I kept you away, I just…”

“Hey, it’s okay, I get it” Sam interrupted him, comprehensively. “You needed some space to think”

“Yeah… I surely thought a lot, whenever Cooper would shut up for a few minutes” Blaine joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

“I was so afraid I had lost you” Sam confessed with a sigh.

“Never” Blaine promised in all honesty.

“Let me hug you again so I believe you’re real” Sam pleaded with an embarrassed grin as his arms moved to envelop Blaine again.

“Ok” Blaine laughed as he put his own arms around his friend’s torso and rested his chin on Sam’s shoulder.

An immediate sense of peace –after three days of almost struggling to breathe– filled Blaine’s chest and warmed his heart as Sam’s arms kept him strongly in place, as he could feel Sam’s beating against his own chest, as he knew Sam was the happiest man alive in that moment only because he had returned to him. That thought only made him feel loved as he had never felt before, and if he hadn’t been sure that Kurt was not the right one for him until that moment, he surely was now.

“Aren’t you going to ask me anything else?” Blaine asked, not daring to break the embrace so he didn’t have to look at Sam’s face and lose the courage to say what he so needed to say.

“What should I ask you?” Sam said, disentangling himself from Blaine’s arms –only slightly, though, as he kept his hands firmly placed on Blaine’s shoulders– to try and decipher what was in Blaine’s mind through his eyes.

“We talked about a lot of things the other day” Blaine explained, trying not to stutter too much because of his nervousness. “You said some things that really hit me, you know?”

“Did I?”

“Yes, Sam, you did!” Blaine laughed, playfully punching Sam’s chest. “Stop being surprised about your wisdom!”

Sam laughed stupidly as he looked in awe at his best friend. Amongst all the things he loved about Blaine, that one was probably one of the most important: how highly he always seemed to think of him and how he never had any trouble in letting him know, making Sam feel special and important, and putting an immediate ending to whoever issues he might have with his self-steem. Especially when he treated Sam as if he was the most intelligent person in the world, instead of the stupid most people believed him to be.

“You said something about how I should be with someone whose main purpose in life was to make me happy” Blaine continued resolutely, even if his voice seemed to tremble slightly every now and then.

“Yeah. That’s what you deserve” Sam answered confidently.

“What if…?” Blaine started, breathing deeply as he tried to gather the courage to ask what he needed to ask.

“Yeah?” Sam tried to encourage him, picking both his hands in his to give him strength, his own heart about to burst with anticipation at what he hoped Blaine was about to say.

“What if I…?” Blaine tried to speak again, only to be interrupted by a loud knocking on the apartment’s door.

“Damn it” Sam murmured as Blaine suddenly lost all his courage at the interruption and let go of Sam’s hands.

“I’ll get it. That’s probably Cooper, I’m sure I left something in his car and he wants to make sure I have it so I don’t suddenly appear at his apartment again to cry on his shoulder for two days” Blaine joked as he walked the rest of the way to the door to open it and was hugely surprised at who he found there. “Kurt! What are you doing here?”

“I could be asking you that myself” Kurt answered in his usual sassy manner, and Sam sighed in frustration at his mere presence. “You texted me to tell me you were coming back to talk, so I came here to make sure I caught you before you disappeared again”

“I was… coming to see you right away” Blaine explained while looking at the floor, clearly embarrassed and intimidated by Kurt’s presence –something that deeply irritated Sam–. “I think I owe you some explanation”

“Oh, you think?” Kurt answered with a tone full of sarcasm. “Yet you came to Sam before you came to me”

“I… just wanted to change my clothes first” Blaine answered, only half honest.

“Though apparently you didn’t” Kurt answered, looking and pointing at Blaine’s obvious borrowed clothes.

“I just arrived” Blaine tried to justify himself.

“Where were you, by the way?”

“At Cooper’s”

“Well, how nice of him to lie to me, then, considering I texted him and he told me he had no idea where you were” Kurt explained, and Sam turned around slightly so they wouldn’t see the triumphal smile he couldn’t stop from breaking into his lips: Cooper had lied to Kurt about Blaine’s whereabouts while giving him the address to find him. It was obvious in which side Blaine’s brother was, right?

“I asked him to” Blaine answered in his brother’s defense, even if it was not true, as Cooper hadn’t even told him about Kurt’s text.

“So do we need to have an audience for this?” Kurt asked, pointing at Sam with his head, who just looked back defiantly at him.

“Mmm… Sam… do you mind?” Blaine asked, terribly sorry to ask his friend to go away, but knowing Kurt deserved some sort of intimacy for such an important conversation.

“No, of course not, B” Sam’s gaze immediately softened when directed at his best friend, wanting to put his mind at ease, letting him know he completely understood. “I’ll… be in my room if you need me. Seriously”

“Thank, Sam” Blaine answered with a smile, knowing Sam was very serious about his offer to help if there was any need. Sam reciprocated the smile, rubbed Blaine’s shoulder comfortingly and finally left to shut himself up in his bedroom.

Although that didn’t mean he couldn’t spy on the conversation, he thought with a mischievous smile as he lent against the door and glued his ear to it. He was not trying to eavesdrop, he tried to convince himself: he just wanted to make sure that Blaine was alright and he didn’t need to intervene. He was just being a good friend. A good friend that was dying to know what Blaine had to say to his soon-to-be ex-fiancé.

“What the hell happened, Blaine?” Kurt asked once they were alone. “I thought we were happy”

“Were we?” Blaine responded with a sigh. This was not going to be easy, but for once in his relationship with Kurt he was not going to relent one bit. He finally was very aware about what he felt and what he wanted, and he was not willing to let Kurt change any of it.

“You tell me, ‘cause I think you’ve got your mind pretty set up” Kurt answered.

“I just… realized we were rushing too much into things” Blaine answered, starting from the beginning even if it wasn’t, by any means, his only reason to cancel the wedding. “Even if we loved each other the right way, we’re so damn young! I’m 20, for God’s sake!”

“What do you mean _if we loved each other_?”

“Kurt, it’s about time we start being completely honest with each other, isn’t it? We are not in love anymore”

“You speak for yourself, I do love you” Kurt answered, and even while telling Blaine he loved him, he still sounded reproachful.

“I don’t really think you do, Kurt. Otherwise you wouldn’t have broken up with me with no apparent reason” Blaine explained, for once having the courage to reproach Kurt too. “I suffocated you, didn’t I? How can we be together when you can’t even share your home with me for more than a few months before you start feeling as you can’t breathe?”

“That is not true, it’s just…” Kurt tried to defend himself, but now that Blaine felt brave enough to talk he didn’t even let him finish before he continued himself.

“Kurt, it’s true. It’s happened twice, remember? I’m not supposed to make you feel like that, you should want to spend every minute of every day with me” Blaine explained, repeating the exact same words Sam had told him only two days ago, making Sam smile proudly at it from his place behind the door. “I couldn’t possibly survive that you threw me out of your apartment for a third time. It was hard enough the last time, I was so messed up I had to leave New York, remember? If you really loved me, you would have never let me go like that”

“I may have made a mistake, I’ll give you that, but… I came back for you, didn’t I?” Kurt asked, as if he was astounded that Blaine could think that was not enough.

“Yeah, you did… Only you waited until I had a life again here. I guess… you were feeling too lonely, by then?” Blaine said, and Sam felt so proud that his friend was confronting Kurt like that for once that he was having trouble to stop himself from giving him an applause. “And I’m the only one expected to leave everything behind, to go back to New York if we marry?”

“Well, I have my life there” Kurt answered with an implicit _duuuh_ in his voice because really, that wasn’t so hard to understand, was it?

“And I have mine here!” Blaine protested, understanding by the surprised look on Kurt’s face he hadn’t even thought about that. “I have a job, I have my friends, I have my own home with Sam…”

“And all of that is more important than me?” Kurt asked, playing the role of the victim as only he knew how to do.

“It’s not a question of importance, Kurt” Blaine explained, although in his heart he knew he was right, and Kurt was not his priority anymore. Just the thought of leaving everything to go back to New York with him… “It’s just that… I don’t want to be with you anymore”

Sam loudly sighed in relief, before covering his own mouth with his hand afraid he would be heard. Blaine had been brave and honest, and finally broken up with Kurt. He still didn’t know what that meant to him –well, besides the fact that Blaine wouldn’t be leaving to New York anymore and he would remain at his side–, but to get Kurt out of the picture at last… Felt too good to be true.

“Maybe…” Kurt tried desperately to look for arguments to keep Blaine at his side, and Sam wondered how different everything would have been if Kurt had come down from his pedestal before to do that. “Maybe we can find some kind of… arrangement that works for both of us so you don’t feel like you have to leave everything…”

“No” Blaine denied with no hesitation, even if his eyes were starting to fill with tears at Kurt’s insistence, ‘cause even after everything he had put him through, he still didn’t want to hurt him. “You should have suggested that before. You should have _cared_ about that before. I’ve made my decision now”

“But Blaine” Kurt insisted, playing the guilt card as he picked Blaine’s hands in his and looked at him straight in the eye. “We could…”

Sam was appalled to hear some kind of sob that he instantly recognized as coming from Blaine. He should have known, Blaine was feeling guilty and emotional enough about breaking up with Kurt, the last thing he needed was for Kurt to insist they could make it. Sam wished he could just go to him and embrace him until there were no more tears in him. Or cello tape Kurt’s mouth so he couldn’t keep hurting him. That would be a good option too. He just prayed Blaine wouldn’t let himself be convinced that their high school romance could survive now they were adults.

“Kurt, please” Blaine begged for him to stop as he disentangled his hands from the other boy’s grip. “I don’t want this anymore, it can’t possibly work”

“Come on, honey, you wouldn’t be crying if this didn’t hurt you” Kurt said with the sweetest tone he could muster –which made Sam want to throw up–. “You still love me”

“Of course I love you, Kurt, I always will” Blaine answered with a sob. “But I’m not in love with you anymore”

“It can’t be as simple as that, you don’t wake up one day and realize you don’t love someone anymore” Kurt asked, completely insensitive to Blaine’s tears –as he usually was–. “What changed?”

“You’re right” Blaine confessed, and Sam held his breath for what was about to come. “Something happened that helped me open my eyes. Or at least to be honest with myself”

“And what’s that?”

“The other day at my bachelor’s party… I drunk way too much and… I lost control of myself” Blaine explained, so soft that Sam almost couldn’t hear him, but he was still marveled that his friend would want to protect him even in a situation like that. He couldn’t remain silent about the fact that he had cheated on Kurt or he would never forgive himself, but he could keep Sam out of any of that, even if he had been the one to start the whole debacle.

“I swear to you, Blaine, if you say what I think you’re going to say…” Kurt threatened.

“I hooked up with someone” Blaine confessed in the guiltiest whisper.

“You what?” Kurt spat at him, not wanting to believe it even if he had already imagined what Blaine was going to say.

“And… I wouldn’t have done it if I really loved you, right?” Blaine tried to reason with him, even if the last thing he wanted was to hurt the person he had loved –or tried to– for so long.

“I can’t believe this. You cheated on me again” Kurt said, and he didn’t need to raise his voice even a bit to sound terrifying.

“I’m so sorry, Kurt” Blaine apologized, his voice shaking with tears. “I know it doesn’t change anything, but… I never wanted to hurt you”

“Didn’t you? How can you say that when you cheated on me for the second time?”

“I’m sorry” Blaine repeated with a sob, and Sam’s heart went to him and to how ashamed he sounded.

“And you come to me and say that you’re breaking up with me?” Kurt asked, his astonishment leaving room now to his usual pride –that Sam detested so much–. “Who do you think you are? I’m the one who should be leaving you! You don’t deserve for me to even look at your face”

“Kurt, please” Blaine whispered, trying to appease him.

“Please, what? I can’t believe this” Kurt repeated, finally yelling and making a scene like he always loved to do. “You’re such a whore!”

Sam couldn’t help it anymore: no one, not even Kurt, came to his home to insult the person he loved the most in the world like that and got away with it. Fuming, he opened his door in one brusque movement and he was in front of Kurt in only a couple of strides.

“Ok, that’s enough” Sam said in a threatening voice that didn’t seem to impress Kurt that much.

“You get the hell out of here, Sam” Kurt ordered him, as he was too used to do with most people –Blaine included.

“This is my home, and I won’t have you here just insulting him like that, you hear me?” Sam responded, looking menacingly at Kurt, and only backed out slightly when he felt Blaine’s loving hands close around his biceps from behind.

“Sam, stay out of this, please” Blaine pleaded, and Sam could almost feel how what he really wished was for him to stay, so he only moved to turn around to him.

“No, Blaine, I’m not going to remain quiet as this… person keeps treating you like that. You were not to blame for any of this” Sam answered, his voice softening immediately when directed to his best friend.

“What the hell do you mean, Sam?” Kurt interfered.

“It was me, okay?” Sam confessed, turning again to Kurt and grabbing one of Blaine’s hands to hold it behind his back, so Kurt wouldn’t see but Blaine would know he was not alone. “I’m the one Blaine cheated on you with, he was just trying to keep me out of this, I guess. But we didn’t exactly hook up, it was me the one who lost control and kissed him”

“You make it sound like you took advantage of him. Is that why you fled, Blaine?” Kurt asked, and neither Blaine or Sam could determine if he was genuinely worried about him or was just trying to piss Sam off.

“What the hell, Kurt?” Blaine yelled, angrier than the other boys had ever heard him as he pointed his index finger at Kurt’s face, and even Sam felt a little scared by his outburst even if it was not directed at him; quite the opposite: Blaine was just fiercely defending him. Against the man he was supposed to marry that same day. “Never say something like that about Sam again, you hear me? He kissed me, yeah, but I let him”

“You’re so proud of it, aren’t you?” Kurt asked, deeply offended at Blaine’s menacing tone.

“No, I’m not, but I already apologized and I’m not going to do it again, Kurt” Blaine answered, as if the mere presence of Sam at his side gave him the courage and strength he needed to confront him.

“Do you even regret it?”

“Yes, of course I regret it, Kurt!” Blaine answered, and Sam wanted to burst into tears with his words; apparently, Blaine hadn’t changed his opinion about it being too late for them. “I regret doing it before ending my relationship with you. That was wrong”

Sam’s heart missed a beat as he looked at his friend. Was this real? Had Blaine just implied he only regretted the timing? That he wanted to end his relationship with Kurt before kissing him again? That he still had a chance?

Blaine hadn’t meant to say something like that, he didn’t want to sound as if he just wanted to touch a raw nerve and hurt Kurt with whatever was happening between Sam and him, but he didn’t regret it. Especially when he looked at Sam and saw so much love and hope in his eyes. He dared to smile at him before he was able to stop it, but it was enough for Kurt to understand what was really happening.

“So I was right from the beginning” Kurt said, signaling alternatively at the two boys.

“Yeah, you were right, I have feelings for him” Sam replied sarcastically, once he recovered from the shock. “You want a medal or something?”

“And you have feelings for him too” Kurt observed, turning to his ex-fiancé.

“I’m not going to talk to you about that before I talk to Sam, I’m sorry” Blaine politely refused to talk. He and Sam needed to clear a lot of things between them, and Kurt would have nothing to say in them.

“You think you’re so special, right?” Kurt said, his voice full of venom towards whom he had always considered the weaker part of their relationship, now suddenly so strong. “So irresistible, that you can have any guy you want, that you can even get straight boys out of the closet?”

“No, of course not” Blaine tried to defend himself, but Kurt was having none of it.

“Well, I’ve cheated on you too, you know?” Kurt surprised everyone with his affirmation, feeling so proud of himself that it made Sam nauseous. How could someone be so devious? “More than once, for your information. With Elliott. And Adam”

“What?” Blaine asked in utter surprise.

“You son of a bitch!” Sam couldn’t help himself from shouting. How he dared to treat Blaine –his Blaine, if he had something to say about it– like that?

“Sam, please” Blaine asked him, this time being him the one to grab Sam’s hand in his –and not caring to hide it.

“Are you listening to him?” Sam asked in disbelief that Blaine wouldn’t get angry at something like that. But it was okay: he would angry for both of them. “He is reproaching you, insulting you, and he’s cheated on you at least twice!”

“It’s okay, Sam. It’s the same I did” Blaine answered, shrugging his shoulders in resignation.

“No, it’s not! You didn’t go all the way, you weren’t looking for it, and you immediately regretted and confessed. Who knows if he would have ever told you about it if you hadn’t confessed first? Or even stop doing it? And he is proud of it!”

“Look, Sam” Blaine tried to make his friend understand, though his words were also directed towards Kurt. “It’s okay. It just proves all the more how much Kurt and I are not supposed to be together. I’m only glad we realized it before it was too late”

Sam breathed deeply a couple of times to control his anger, and then nodded at his friend. Blaine had always been so wise and able to keep a cool head in difficult situations like those… And in the end, it was his relationship with Kurt which was at stake, and Sam shouldn’t have a say in that, in spite of the feelings he had for him. In the end, he could only respect his friend’s decision.

“So that’s it?” Kurt interjected. “You’re leaving me for him”

“No” Blaine answered honestly because, as much as Sam had played a very important part in everything, the fact was that Blaine didn’t want to be with Kurt anymore, in spite of what would happen with his friend. “I’m just putting an end to… all this nonsense”

“He’s going to play with you, you hear me?” Kurt bitterly warned him, looking at Sam contemptuously, mentally blaming him for Blaine’s change of heart. “Mark my words, once he gets over this experimental phase he will get rid of you”

“I love him with all my heart, you fucking bastard, which is more than you can say” Sam said before he could stop himself, and he immediately felt Blaine’s hand on his shoulder, his touch comforting and calming –never reproachful.

“Kurt, whatever I do with Sam… is none of your fucking business anymore” Blaine said, and the other two boys looked surprised at him, as he hardly ever swore or treated anybody in less than a polite way. “But if you want to know… I trust Sam more than I’ve ever trusted you. And now if you don’t mind…” he added, signaling at the door with a movement of his head. Even if he was not crying anymore, he felt emotionally exhausted, and the only thing he wanted was to lose sight of Kurt so he could stay in Sam’s arms forever, where he knew he belonged.

“You’re making a mistake letting me go like that” Kurt replied, but Sam was already walking towards him, pushing him to the door without even touching him.

“I think he asked you to leave” Sam said, surprisingly calm all of a sudden.

“He’s never going to love you like I do” Kurt insisted even when he was already outside, as Sam had _politely_ opened the door for him.

“I really hope so” Blaine answered and, to Kurt’s surprise, he turned his back on him, putting a definitive ending to anything going between them.

“Guess I’m not going to be as alone as you thought after all, right, Kurt?” he said before slamming the door on the other’s face before he could even give an answer. And just like that Kurt was gone from their lives… forever, he hoped. “I swear to God, if he had stayed only one more second…”

Sam stopped talking when he noticed the lack of reaction on Blaine’s part. His back was still to him and, even though his upper body wasn’t shaking so he knew he wasn’t sobbing, all his muscles were tense and his shoulders were hunched impossibly low. Sam worried for a second that Blaine was having second thoughts about breaking up with Kurt, but instantly understood that he was just feeling upset about how it ended. After all, Blaine had the biggest heart and Sam knew he felt incredibly guilty about cheating and hurting Kurt –even if he had been equally hurt–. And he guessed it was kind of difficult to accept your first love, the one you had fought for so strongly, made no sense anymore…

“Hey” Sam said as he walked in front of Blaine and gently cupped his cheeks to lift his face as his thumbs got rid of the offending tears there. “You alright?”

The only answer he got was a shrug of shoulders, just as he had only two days ago, and Sam wished Blaine would sometimes just admit he was hurting so he could try and make it better.

“You always do that” Sam said with a fond smile, tenderly pinching Blaine’s cheek until he elicited a shy smile out of him.

“What?” Blaine asked in confusion.

“Shrug your shoulders instead of saying you’re hurting”

“Do I?”

“Yes, you do” Sam answered with a chuckle before throwing his arms around Blaine’s torso and bringing him to his chest so he could engulf him with his warmth and love. “You know, you only have to say it. I will always try to make it better”

“You’re amazing, Sam” Blaine answered, his voice muffled from where his face was buried in Sam’s neck, and the blond felt very real butterflies flying in his stomach at how highly Blaine always thought of him.

“Oh, you want to talk” Sam answered with a chuckle, and he dared to rest a chaste kiss on the side of Blaine’s neck, grateful when Blaine seemed to melt into it instead of rejecting it, as he had feared. “But let me ask you again, B: are you alright?”

“It’s just… I know I don’t love him anymore but…” Blaine said, and Sam was almost having trouble to keep up with the conversation when Blaine’s breathing kept deliciously tickling his neck with every word he said. “I wish we could have ended our relationship in some other way. I wish we could still be friends”

“I know” Sam acknowledged his regrets, lovingly caressing the back of Blaine’s neck and the soft curls that fell there. “I’m sorry if I made it all the more difficult, and I’m sorry I lost it with him… It’s just… the thought of him treating you in less than a perfect way…”

“No, Sam. In fact… I wanted to thank you” Blaine honestly said as he broke the embrace and looked at his friend’s face while squeezing his biceps, still not ready to break the contact between them.

“You’re thanking me?” Sam asked in disbelief. “Why?”

“For standing up for me” Blaine explained. “No one has ever done that like you just did”

“I will always stand up for you, Blaine” Sam answered, and the expression on his face showed how stupid just the thought of not doing it seemed to him.

“I know. That’s the most amazing part” Blaine added, and something in the smile he was giving his friend gave Sam hopes that things may be taking a turn for the better.

“So… you wanted to ask me something before we were so rudely interrupted” Sam said, picking Blaine’s hands in his to encourage him to say whatever he needed to say. He felt bad about rushing the smaller boy when he was so obviously overwhelmed with everything, but he couldn’t wait any longer: he needed to know what Blaine really felt for him.

“Oh yeah” Blaine said, blushing remarkably at whatever was on his mind or at the thought of having to voice it. And Sam couldn’t help to find it incredibly adorable. “I was telling you how you said I should be with someone whose main purpose in life was to make me happy”

“Yeah”

“So what if…”

“What?” Sam couldn’t help himself when Blaine hesitated, only to elicit a groan from the other boy.

“Sam, please, give me a second, this is not easy” Blaine admonished him, blushing so furiously that for a moment Sam worried he was going to permanently turn into that color. Not that he wasn’t looking terribly endearing and sweet in it, mind you.

“I’m sorry” Sam answered with a chuckle, squeezing Blaine’s hands again to give him some strength. “Please, go on”

“I’ll say it in a rush” Blaine warned him.

“However suits you better”

“What if I want you to be that someone?” Blaine said as quickly as he could, not even daring to look at Sam’s eyes in case he only found rejection in them after how he ran from him the night of his bachelor party and the way he had ignored him for two days after that.

When Sam suddenly let go of his hands, Blaine felt as if his heart and his whole world was breaking, as Sam didn’t want to have anything to do with him. But when the pressure of Sam’s index finger under his chin made him lift his face and he saw Sam’s eyes, his heart stopped beating for a second and he held his breath so he wouldn’t miss even one word coming from Sam’s mouth.

“Then your wishes will come true” Sam said with the happiest smile Blaine had ever seen in his best friend –or whatever they were now–.

Sam let go of his chin, only to cup both his cheeks again, and brought Blaine’s face closer to his until their lips met. Having no regrets this time, Blaine’s arms immediately closed around Sam’s neck and he melted against him while he dared to deepen the kiss. When one of Sam’s hands moved to the small of his back, he felt a jolt of electricity travelling all along his body. It was not the first time they kissed, but it was the first time Blaine’s mind wasn’t filled with regret and doubts and sorrow.

Almost too overwhelmed with emotion to speak when the kiss finally broke, they joined their foreheads together as they tried to regain their breaths. Blaine smiled shyly at his friend, and it was all the encouragement Sam needed to put both his arms around Blaine’s waist and bring him impossibly close to him.

“What changed?” Sam said, still panting due to lack of breath and desire.

“Well… I guess as soon as I realized there was no excuse to hide my true feelings anymore, I knew I could only go along with them” Blaine answered, idly playing with the hair behind Sam’s ear.

“I thought it was too late”

“Well, someone very wise told me that it’s never too late to go for what you really want” Blaine answered, giving Sam’s lips a quick peck for good measure –or because he couldn’t stop tasting them, he wasn’t sure.

“Sounds like a very smart person” Sam joked, his hands tracing lazy patterns along Blaine’s back, as if they were unable to stop feeling him now they were allowed.

“He is” Blaine answered with a proud smile, and Sam marveled once again how good Blaine always made him feel about himself.

“He also sounds like he loves you very much” Sam reminded him, this time being him the one to capture the other’s lips in a kiss that lingered more than originally planned.

“Well, I really hope so ‘cause… I love him too” Blaine confessed against Sam’s lips, unable to move away from them and making his words even more intense for Sam to process.

“You really do?” Sam asked, tilting his head slightly backwards so he could get a good look at Blaine’s eyes when he answered.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’ve ever not” Blaine answered with a wide and honest smile that instantly brought tears to Sam’s eyes. Too moved to say anything else, he embraced his best friend-turned-lover strongly to him and bowed to himself to never let go of him again.

“Am I dreaming?” Sam asked as he held Blaine’s head to his shoulder, still incapable of letting go of him. “Just an hour ago I was packing my things because I thought you would never come back, let alone tell me you love me”

“You’re not dreaming, Sammy. It’s because I love you that I came back, and I’m only sorry I made you suffer while you waited”

“You’re now here and that’s all that matters” Sam said as he broke the embrace only to be able to kiss those perfect and sweet lips more strongly, almost possessively, as if he was afraid Blaine would be gone once the kiss ended.

But he wasn’t. When the kiss ended, Blaine was still there, with the widest smile on his face and all the love of the world in his eyes.

“I love you” Sam whispered, his heart about to burst with happiness.

“I love you too” Blaine answered as he rested his head on Sam’s shoulder and closed his eyes in contentment.

“And I’m going to make you happy” Sam promised, sealing his words with a kiss to Blaine’s forehead.

“I have no doubt about it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so the story is mainly this. I will write a little epilogue for that, so it's not entirely complete yet. I just thought it would be nice to know what happens afterwards... ;)


	4. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha, remember when I said a "little" epilogue? Well, it's a full chapter in the end, pure fluff and sugar! So enjoy it!

It took them a long time to be able to break their embrace –and to separate their lips, which seemed to be glued together–, and then Sam went instantly into protective mode: he wanted Blaine to eat, he wanted Blaine to rest and, generally, he only wanted to take care of Blaine until he was completely back to his usual self. Or forever, more accurately. But he wasn’t going to tell him that, was he?

“I’m sure you haven’t had anything to eat for the last three days” Sam felt the need to insist when he offered Blaine something to eat and he instantly refused.

“Not _anything_ ” Blaine complained.

“A yogurt a day doesn’t count as eating, Blaine” Sam contradicted him, because he knew it was the only thing Blaine would tolerate when he claimed not to be hungry so the other person –Cooper, in that case– would stop insisting.

“How do you…?” Blaine asked in surprise. Man, Sam knew him very well indeed.

“Let’s get something ready, shall we?” Sam suggested, chuckling at Blaine’s obvious annoyance at how predictable he was.

“Alright” Blaine finally relented, if only for Sam’s sake. “But you know nobody died for failing to eat correctly for a couple of days, right?”

“Three”

“Ok, three”

“Well, I’m not going to risk it, we’ll have an early lunch. How about pasta?”

Blaine was still too excited and overwhelmed with feelings –both good and bad– so that his stomach was still in knots, but he tried for Sam’s sake and ended eating about half his plate, which fortunately seemed enough to satisfy Sam. Gosh, Sam was worse than his mother, he made him feel like a little kid! But he also made him feel loved and cared for, so he was not going to complain.

“And now up to bed with you for a nap. Did you even get some sleep? If those bags under your eyes get any bigger I’m afraid they’re going to cover your whole face” Sam pointed out as he finished eating himself and cleaned his mouth with his napkin.

“No” Blaine blatantly refused this time, shaking in head in negation for good measure.

“No?” Sam asked, surprised at Blaine’s firm refusal. After all, he usually managed to get away with almost anything with Blaine, who was rarely able to deny him anything if he gave him his own version of puppy eyes he had learnt from Blaine himself.

“No, I… I don’t want to sleep yet. I’m not ready to… be apart from you yet” Blaine explained, lifting from his chair to leave the dishes on the sink, suddenly embarrassed and very self conscious of how needy he sounded.

Sam, far from being bothered, just smiled at Blaine’s back. Wasn’t he adorable when he blushed like that? Though he shouldn’t, they were a couple now, and he would never need to apologize for wanting to spend time with Sam. And Sam would always reciprocate.

“I’ll stay with you” Sam promised, putting his arms around Blaine’s waist from behind as the latter started washing up, and he had to smile at the shiver that ran along Blaine’s body at the unexpected contact.

“But I want to be awake!” Blaine explained, turning around in Sam’s arms to look at him. “I want to stay up all day with you, and talk to you, and get to know everything about you”

“But B, you already know everything about me” Sam answered with a laugh, as he rested his forehead against Blaine’s.

“Well, then I want to hear it again, as your…

“Boyfriend?”

“Yeah, that” Blaine answered with an embarrassed smile. “Please, don’t make me sleep yet. I need you”

Sam looked intently at those huge golden eyes he loved so much and for a moment he feared he would never be able to stop looking at them, they were so full of love and raw honesty. With a smile, he only had to stretch his neck a little to capture his boyfriend’s lips in his, and he would never get tired of the feeling of Blaine’s arms closing around his neck to bring him closer and their chests colliding so beautifully.

“Alright” he finally relented once they broke apart, ‘cause who was he trying to kid, he was not able to deny Blaine anything either. “But let’s compromise, we can stay up and watch a movie or something, but we have to rest. We’ll get comfy in the sofa, how does that sound?”

“With a blanket over both of us?” Blaine pleaded, giving Sam his best version of puppy eyes plus a pout.

“Sure”

“Cuddling?”

“Obviously” Sam answered with a chuckle.

“Ok” Blaine finally agreed with a smile, and gave Sam a quick peck on the lips before turning around to the sink again.

So not even ten minutes later, after they finished washing up and putting the dishes away, Sam picked Blaine’s hand in his –didn’t their hands fit perfectly well together?– and directed him to the living room. He sat down on the sofa and motioned for his boyfriend –wow, didn’t that sound wonderful?– to sit next to him and lean against him. Blaine didn’t need to be told twice, and immediately found himself nestling against Sam’s chest and embracing him strongly around his middle, while the latter threw the sofa blanket over both of them and wrapped his arms around him to hold him in place. Sam then switched the TV for the sake of it, but kept the volume low so they could talk –or in case Blaine started feeling sleepy.

“Oh, this is heaven” Blaine murmured with a contented sigh once the warmth of the blanket and Sam’s embrace started seeping in his bones. Of course, being in the arms of someone you knew loved you so much, and you loved just as much, helped a lot.

“I agree” Sam answered with a chuckle as he rested his head on top of Blaine’s and his hand ran up and down Blaine’s arm for extra comfort. “How come we’ve never done that before?”

“Because we’re so so stupid” Blaine answered, sighing again as he buried his face more deeply under Sam’s chin and closed his eyes. “You were right, you know?”

“I’m right about a lot of things, you’re going to need to be more specific”

“The kiss. You gave me the best wedding present you could have ever given me” Blaine joked, and was surprised when he felt Sam tensing slightly at his words.

“No, Blaine” Sam answered, all jokes aside for a moment. “It worked out in the best possible way, but I was still wrong to do that. What if you hadn’t reciprocated my feelings? I would have ruined your relationship with Kurt for nothing, and what’s even worse, our friendship. That’s not something nice to do for your best friend, is it?”

“As I told Kurt, Sam, I let you” Blaine answered, lifting his head from Sam’s chest for a second to make sure he understood he didn’t blame him at all.

“What the hell did you know, you were drunk” Sam answered with a forced chuckle, still not ready to be released of his blame.

“So were you. And I was very aware of everything that was happening, you can be sure of that. I could have stopped it way before I did, if I had wanted to”

“I’m really really glad I came clean about my feelings before it was too late, but the timing was terribly horrible” Sam insisted one more time, but he looked relieved at having being absolved of his crime, and he gently cupped Blaine’s cheek and forced him to rest his head on him again. After all, he had promised to rest, hadn’t he?

“Let’s just focus on how you stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life, shall we?” Blaine suggested, gratefully placing a gentle kiss on Sam’s chest. “Which reminds me… oh God”

“What is it, babe?” Sam asked, confused at the sudden change of mood and Blaine’s groaning.

“Babe?” Blaine asked, forgetting for a second what he was going to say to marvel at how wonderful it felt being called _babe_ by his new boyfriend.

“Too soon?”  Sam asked, a little worried he had overstepped the mark too soon.

“No, it just… felt so nice” Blaine answered, and Sam was relieved when he could feel Blaine’s wide smile on the skin of his neck.

“So, _babe_ … what is it?”

“Well, since I was supposed to marry this evening… I have a lot of people to call. I called my parents first thing in the morning, and they were so glad when I told them I was not marrying at 20 that they offered to call all the family. But I still have to tell our friends”

“I’ll call all our friends for you, don’t worry” Sam offered, knowing it wouldn’t be as difficult for him as it would be for Blaine who, on top of that, seemed about to fall asleep.

“You’d do that for me?” Blaine asked, his eyes full of hope and gratitude as he raised his head again, ‘cause he wasn’t looking forward to give explanations, answer endless questions and take all kind of reprimands.

“Sweetie, I’d do anything for you” Sam promised without any trace of joking in his voice.

Blaine gave him the sweetest smile Sam had ever seen, making his heart beat twice as faster at knowing it was only for him, and tenderly kissed the blond’s lips again before once again letting his head fall on Sam’s chest.

“They’re going to be so pissed off they came all the way here for nothing…” Blaine said as he closed his eyes in the comfort of Sam’s arms, willing himself to stay awake even if his fuzzy head and heavy eyelids told a very different story.

“They love you, Blaine. They’re going to be glad you didn’t do something you didn’t really want to” Sam explained, trying to get his mind at ease. Though if someone dared to say the slightest bad thing about his boyfriend… “And if someone wants to get angry at you, they’ll have to deal with me” he added, in the best action-movie voice he could muster.

“My knight in shining armor” Blaine joked.

“You already told me that the night of… well, you know” Sam said, not really knowing how to name that night. The night of the kiss? It had been much more than that. The night of Blaine’s bachelor party? It sounded strange, now he was not getting married. The night of the whole debacle? That was much more accurate, but it sounded as something that had ended very badly, and it wasn’t the case, so…

“It’s because even if we were not together yet, you already were my hero, and you’ve always been” Blaine answered, in that raw honesty that you get when you’re about to fall asleep.

“Really?” Sam asked, his lips breaking into a shy smile.

“Of course really, Sam”

They fell in a comfortable silence after that, just appreciating the comfort and pleasure of resting in each other’s arms. Sam’s hand move to the back of Blaine’s head, thinking that maybe a little message there would destroy his resistance and would finally make him fall asleep. But as he carded his fingers through the curls that fell on the nape of Blaine’s neck, Sam was marveled at how soft his hair was, and how adorably it curled when it was not buried under a huge film of that raspberry gel he seemed to love that much.

“I love you hair like this” Sam casually commented, entwining his fingers in one of Blaine’s ringlets.

“Oh shit, I completely forgot about my hair!” Blaine groaned comically. “It’s so embarrassing!”

“Why?” Sam asked with a chuckle. “I just said I love it, right?”

“Yeah” Blaine admitted, even if he didn’t agree.

“I like to be able to card my fingers through it… Never knew your hair was so soft!”

“Yeah, I know it’s so much softer without gel, but the curls…”

“The curls are awesome and you look incredibly cute with them” Sam stated, ending whatever possible discussion about it, because he loved Blaine’s hair and because he was trying to get him to sleep.

“Really?” Blaine asked, hope evident in his voice even if it was slurred with sleep.

“Cross my heart” Sam answered, laughing, as he noticed Blaine’s breathing evening out as he finally surrendered to the land of dreams.

 

Sam looked down at Blaine’s peaceful face as he slept against his chest. All lines of worry were gone, and he looked impossibly young, almost like a child. Sam was going to make sure the bags under his eyes would disappear even if he had to tie him to the bed for the next few days so he would rest, and he would bring him breakfast and lunch and dinner to bed if it was necessary until he was satisfied that Blaine had eaten enough to compensate for the last few days in which he had neglected himself. Blaine was now his to protect and take care, and nothing had ever felt so good.

He considered waking him up and sending him to bed for a real nap, or even taking him there in his arms himself –wouldn’t that be romantic?– but Blaine was right: he was not ready to let go of him just yet. He wanted to keep him against his chest, where he could feel the weight of his upper body and the warmth it transferred. To keep him in his arms where he so obviously belonged.

So very carefully so as not to jostle the precious burden on his chest, Sam stretched his hand to pick up the remote and mute the TV completely. Time to make some calls.

**********

Sam couldn’t stop himself from humming a stupid tune as he got some hot cocoa ready for himself and his boyfriend, he was so happy. Wow, his boyfriend. A goofy smile breaking in his lips, he still couldn’t believe how wonderfully everything had worked out. And how amazing it was going to be from then on.

After Blaine woke up from his nap the day before, completely refreshed and amazed Sam hadn’t moved from his side –or from under him, to be precise–, they soon had gotten engaged in some playful and loving intercourse that had ended up in a sweaty and sated bundle of limbs in Sam’s bed a long while after that. And there they had remained for the rest of the day, the night, and the following day until that moment, the evening of their second day together.

Sam couldn’t think of a time in his life where he had felt happier than he did at that moment, after so many hours of making love, talking, laughing, sleeping, making love again… with whom he knew was going to be the love of his life. They had only gotten up to open the door for the delivery guys that brought them all kinds of food every now and them, ‘cause they weren’t ready yet to leave the comfort of the bed and each other’s arms to do something as banal as cooking. The most difficult thing Sam was willing to do was that hot cocoa, and only because he knew the expression of pure and excited happiness it was going to bring to Blaine’s face.

As he came back to the living room from the kitchen, he was nicely surprised to find Blaine there, his back to him, gazing through the window. Sam couldn’t help the butterflies going crazy on his stomach when he realized that, apart from his underwear –like he had only bothered to throw on himself too–, Blaine had lazily put a shirt on him, even if he hadn’t bothered to button it. Sam’s shirt, to be more exact. Sam knew it was ridiculous, but it made him feel amazingly proud and warm inside to see Blaine wearing his clothes. It made it feel all the more real. And didn’t he look amazingly hot in only a shirt and those shorts that made his cute butt look so deliciously inviting?

Not able to resist the separation any longer, he silently walked towards his boyfriend and put his arms around him from behind as well as he could, considering he was carrying two full cups of hot cocoa. The unexpected contact made Blaine jump a little, and it was all Sam could do to avoid spilling all the liquid into the floor.

“Careful” Sam warned him as he balanced again the cups in his hands and placed one of them in Blaine’s hand, leaving one of his own free to properly curl around Blaine’s waist.

“Don’t creep up on me like that, you jerk” Blaine jokingly reprimanded him, even as his hand moved to gently caress the arm Sam had around him up and down.

“I love it when you tell me those sweet things” Sam joked, kissing that spot just below Blaine’s ear that he had recently discovered always made him sigh.

“Well, you have to earn them”

“I like your shirt” Sam commented sarcastically. “I think it looks really good on you”

“I don’t know, I think I messed up with the size” Blaine continued the joke, signaling at how big it looked on him, especially the sleeves.

“Really? ‘Cause you look sexy as hell” Sam answered, his voice hoarse with desire as he kissed and licked Blaine’s exposed neck.

“You just like it ‘cause I’m wearing your clothes and that turns you on” Blaine answered, equally aroused as he felt Sam’s tongue tracing patterns all along his skin. “You’re that much of a caveman”

“Well, I would deny it, but you’re completely right, so…” Sam added, eliciting a hearty laugh from his boyfriend.

“Well, I didn’t pick it up by chance either, you know?” Blaine joked, confessing that way that just wearing it was making him feel equally good. Protected. Loved. As he hadn’t felt for a long time.

“Are you alright?” Sam asked, always very sensible to moods.

“I’m great” Blaine answered in all honesty.

“You seem… a little distracted” Sam asserted, not entirely convinced.

“Well, yeah, I guess”

“Are you… having second thoughts about… us?” Sam asked, suddenly so apprehensive that it broke Blaine’s heart.

“No, Sam” Blaine quickly reassured him, lifting his hand to gently caress Sam’s face, perched on his shoulder. “Not in a million years”

“Then what is it?” Sam insisted, immensely relieved as he took the shirt’s collar to the side to rest butterfly kisses on the naked skin of Blaine’s shoulder.

“The fact that I love you with all my heart doesn’t change the fact that I made it all the wrong way” Blaine finally confessed.

“Blaine, we already talked about that” Sam contradicted him, as he hated when Blaine felt guilty about everything. “It was not your fault, it was me”

“No, Sam” Blaine answered with a grateful smile as he rested his head against Sam’s. “It’s not just that. Even if you and I hadn’t gotten together, I was marrying Kurt for the wrong reason. I hurt him a lot, and that is something I will never be able to forgive myself for”

“He’s hurt you a lot too along the years” Sam reminded him, leaving his mug on the table nearby so he could put both his arms around Blaine’s waist and rock them together.

“I know”

“He hurt you so much that you couldn’t even keep on with your life and got cut from NYADA”

“I know, Sam. But in the end it was me who gave the final blow, wasn’t it?”

“Well, someone had to do it” Sam stated, because for him it was as simple as that. “It was not meant to be”

“And what is supposed to be meant to be?” Blaine asked with a mischievous smile, as he was pretty sure what the answer was going to be.

“Us, obviously” Sam answered in a heartbeat.

“Obviously” Blaine repeated with a chuckle.

“Blaine, I know you” Sam turned serious for a moment again, because he really needed to make a point. “Please, don’t start feeling like a bad person again”

“Am I not?” Blaine asked, hoping against hope to receive a negative answer for the person whose opinion mattered the most to him.

“No, of course you aren’t” Of course Sam didn’t disappoint him. “Everybody makes mistakes”

“And is everybody as selfish as me?”

“Well, if you ask me it was damn about time you started being a little selfish with regard to Kurt. You’ve earned it”

“I love you” Blaine simply said, making Sam’s heart burst with happiness.

“And will you still love me when you’re in New York? I heard long-distance relationships are quite difficult” Sam suddenly ask, trying to sound casual, but Blaine could see it was something that was really bothering him.

“Sam, I…” Blaine started, disentangling himself from Sam’s arms because he felt they needed to have that conversation face to face. “I’m not going back to New York”

“What?” Sam asked in surprise. “But B, you belong there”

“I don’t” Blaine contradicted him. “I don’t want to go back to New York. That city… only holds bad memories for me”

“But Blaine, as much as I would love you to, you can’t… just stay here” Sam kindly reminded him as he picked Blaine’s hand in his to let him know he was not reproaching him for anything. “You’ve got to spread your wings, you’re not Ohio material”

“I know, and I was thinking… maybe Michigan” Blaine confessed, looking at Sam with expectant eyes to see what his reaction was going to be at the unexpected turn of events.

“Michigan?”

“They have a good program of Fine Arts, so I could major in Theater performance and Musicology there”

“You know you could probably get back into NYADA if you auditioned again, right?” Sam asked, even if his heart was fluttering at the idea of Blaine not going back to the big city.

“NYADA isn’t such a big deal really, you know?” Blaine confessed, in all honesty. “I’m more than willing to try a real campus. And… I really don’t want to go back to New York and… near Kurt”

“If you’re so sure about it…” Sam answered, immediately supportive as Blaine knew he would be.

“I am. And… you know, Michigan is so much closer to here… We… we could see each other more often. I mean, if… that’s what you want” Blaine suggested, a little tentatively. He very well knew how difficult long-distance relationships were –God, he knew very well–, but he was sure with Sam it would be different. With Sam, everything was different. And easier.

“Of course is what I want, B” Sam reassured him as he enveloped Blaine in his arms with a fond chuckle. “I love you, remember?”

“Yeah” Blaine answered with a relieved sigh as he put his own arms strongly around his boyfriend.

“But that wouldn’t be a problem, really, ‘cause… I’ve been thinking about college too” Sam confessed kind of shyly.

“What?” Blaine happily yelled, breaking the embrace but keeping his hands in Sam’s arms. “That’s great, Sam! You never said anything!”

“Well, the idea came a bit of a sudden, to tell you the truth… When I was packing my things to go back to Kentucky… I realized I really had not plan, no life expectations. Without you here, there was nothing tying me up in Lima, and I really didn’t know what I was going to do in Kentucky either apart from being close to my family. So I started thinking I should probably give college a try. Maybe if I study something I really like it won’t be so difficult anymore, you know?”

“Of course not, Sam!” Blaine answered, so happy he was practically jumping, which warmed Sam’s heart to no extent. “I’m so excited and happy for you! And what do you want to study?”

“Well, you know I’ve always had a tendency towards plastic arts…”

“Yeah, your macaroni portraits were amazing”

“And since you’re saying Michigan has such a good Fine Arts program… It’s a public University, right?”

“Sam, you… you want to go there with me?” Blaine asked, not daring to hope what Sam was implying.

“Yeah, why not?” Sam answered with a shrug of shoulders.

“But wait, Sam, you can’t just…” Blaine started, and Sam almost laughed at how Blaine would always find a reason to worry.

“Ok, don’t go crazy feeling guilty as you always do” Sam warned him, this time grabbing both Blaine’s hands to entwine them with their own. “I’m going there because I really want to give it a try, and it’s as good a place as any to start, and you say it’s a good university, and it’s public so it makes all the more sense. Being there with you is… just a very big inducement”

“Is this really happening?” Blaine said, his eyes getting glassy with unshed tears of happiness as he kept shaking his head in disbelief.

“Well, we have to get in first, but yeah” Sam answered, almost as moved as he could feel Blaine’s excitement and happiness in his own heart, so he tried to lighten the mood a bit. “It’s a good thing I didn’t start unpacking again yet, seems like we’re going to be moving out soon”

“What a good excuse for your laziness” Blaine joked as he let go of Sam’s hands just to throw his arms around Sam’s neck and brought him closer to him to passionately devour his mouth.

“I’ll let you know I’m not that lazy in other activities…” Sam seductively answered as he put his own arms around Blaine’s torso and groaned when their naked chests came into contact.

“Yeah, I’ve had the chance to experience that first-hand” Blaine answered against Sam’s lips, panting at the lack of oxygen and the immediate arousal every time Sam’s lips came in contact with them.

“This is getting in the way” Sam protested as he wanted to feel the skin on Blaine’s back with his hands and found the offending presence of his own shirt.

“I thought you liked it” Blaine answered, teasing him with his own hands running all along his wide back, as Sam was not wearing anything that covered his upper body.

“I do, I think it will look great on the floor when I take it off you” Sam said and he did, slowly pushing the shirt off Blaine’s shoulders so it would slide from his body.

“Here, Sammy?” Blaine asked, although the moan that escaped from his lips when Sam gently pushed him against the window and their bodies collided fully belied how he couldn’t care less about the place, as long as it would always be with Sam.

“And in every corner of the apartment, just wait” Sam promised as he lifted Blaine’s body from the floor and made him tie his legs around his own waist as he crushed the smaller boy against the window. He hoped they weren’t going to be too much of a show to the neighbors, he thought with a mischievous smile as his mouth found the soft skin of Blaine’s neck again, aiming for those moans he had come to love so much.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you all know this is how season 6 is really going to end ;)
> 
> Thanks, everyone!


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